IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


1.0 


I.I 


I  US    III2.U 


1.8 


1.25 

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■« 6"     - 

► 

Pnotographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

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■,M4cKify»v-.„.^w>4ft^;-yfrv.,  wmxi-m^^  »fi^^»^'Jaa<<eS^pt'<MB^"g»^Sg^»)stft^<^^^  "^  JygWtWfc-^f..--:  -fc'.'r-^  ?  i»^'  ■  "^  I'^tfe.^-.TJM'gWt^'^&^^fWair- 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


HlWsO.'SA'-f*""  IP 


J  •••    '-  'miHilHUiW-"  "."WW  ■'  .l'W»%W-M  .::;J!^ 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


D 
D 
D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 

Covers  damaged/ 
Couverture  endommag6e 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  et/ou  pellicul^e 

Cover  title  missing/ 

Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  giographiques  en  couleur 


□    Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

I — I    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


D 
D 


D 


D 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  reliure  serr^e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intArieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutAes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6t6  film6es. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplAmentaires; 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  reduction  indiquA  ci-dessous. 

22X 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilieur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  6t4  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  ddtaiis 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m6thode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiqu6s  ci-dessous. 

□    Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

□    Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommag6es 

□    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaur^es  et/ou  pellicui^es 

□    Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  d6color6es,  tachet^es  ou  piqu^es 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d6tach6es 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Quality  in^gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materif 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplimentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Mition  disponible 


>•  I 


I      I  Pages  detached/ 

I      I  Showthrough/ 

I      I  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I  Includes  supplementary  material/ 

I — I  Only  edition  available/ 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  At6  film^es  A  nouveau  de  faqon  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


10X 


14X 


18X 


26X 


30X 


12X 


16X 


20X 


] 


28X 


32X 


f 


-) 


:ail8 
du 

)difier 
une 
nage 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

I  ibrary  of  Congress 
Photoduplication  Service 


The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  originaS  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


L'exemplaire  i\\m6  fut  reproduit  grdce  d  la 
g6n6rosit6  de: 

Library  of  Congress 
Photoduplication  Service 

Les  images  suivantes  ont  6X6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettetd  de  rexempliaire  i\\m6.  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimde  sont  filmds  en  commen^ant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exerfiplaires 
originaux  sont  filmds  en  commenpant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  ^^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END  "), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaftra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  —^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
filmds  6  des  taux  de  reduction  diff6rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  il  est  f\\vn6  6  partir 
de  Tangle  sup6rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  6  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  n6cessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  m^thode. 


rrata 
to 


pelure. 


n 

32X 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

1 ■      ■ 

3 

4 

5 

6 

•    ^< 


%M 


Ji^^Wi 


Congress  of  Badajos. 


taa 


HISTORICAL  AND  GEOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 


ON  THE  EARLIEST  DISCOVERIES  IN  AMERICA 


H53--I530 


WITH  COMMENTS  ON  THE  EARLIEST  CHARTS  AND  ^rAPS ;  THE  MIS 

TIKES  OF  THE  EARLY  NAVIGATORS  &  THE  BLUNDERS  OP  THE 

GEOGRAPHERS;  THE  ASIATIC  ORIGIN  OF  THE  ATLANTIC 

COAST  LINE  OP  NORTH    AMERICA  HOW 

IT  CREPT  IN  AND  ROW  IT 

CREPT  OUT  OF 

THE  MAPS 

THE 

WHOLE 

ILLUSTRATED  BY  THE 

TEHUANTEPEC  RAILWAY  COMPANY'S 

MAP  OF  THE  WORLD  ON  MERCATOR'S  PRO 

JECTION  AND  PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHIC  F AC-SIMILES 

OF  MANY  OF  THE  EARLIEST  MAPS  AND  CHARTS  OF  AMERICA 


'  r  I 


^  ,i 


By  henry  STEVENS  gmb  ma  etc 

80MBTIMI9  STUDBST  IN  TaLB  COLLSOB  IN  CONNEOTICOT 
Mow  BBBIDBMT  IN  LONDOS 


NEW  haven:    OFFICE  OF  THE  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  SCIENCE 
LCIIEOK :  HSKRY  STEVENS  4  TI;AFA1.GAE  SQUASK 

1869 


1 


'i 


vi 


m 


T 


Cr.^ 


\ 


Entered  »ccorrtlnK  to  Act  of  CouKreBS  In  the  year  186'J  bj 

HENRY   STEVENS 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Counecticnt 


/^■/ 


A  few  copies  printed  for  presents — K" 
Seventy-five  copies  printed  for  sale — X" 


\  ••■ 


TUTTLE,  MOREHOUSE  &  TAYLOR,  TaiSTKi;.  . 
821  State  8t,  Kew  Haven,  Conn. 


h 


{K 


T(. 


necticnt 


JAMES    LENOX 

WHOSE  CONSTANT  CORRESPONDENCE  FOR    MORE  THAN   TWENTY 

YEARS  RESPECTING  THE  BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  THE  EAST 

AS  WELL  AS  THE  WEST  HAS  ENCOURAGED 

THE  WRITER  AND  STIMULATED 

HIS  INVESTIGATIONS 

THESE  PAGES 

ARE 

GRATEFULLY   AND    CORDIALLY  INSCRIBED 


i 


-'■  S 


EXPLANATORY 


tliat  cuuVl  be  expcclf(l.-t1((/«"  «)i  VUtvlaero. 


In  February  last  the  wiiter  was  asked  by  his  brother,  Mr. 
Simon  Stevens  of  New  York,  President  of  the  Tehuantepec  Rail- 
way Company,  to  contribute  to  hia  forthcoming  book  on  Tehu- 
antepec, an  Historical  Introduction  on  the  earliest  discoveries 
in  America,  and  on  the  routes  of  commerce  of  the  Old  World, 
tracing  their  changes,  especially  so  far  as  they  had  any  direct 
bearing  on  his  project  of  Interoceanic  Communication  by  way 
of  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec.  The  writer  accepted  the  op- 
portunity, not  expecting  perhaps  so  much  to  aid  the  enterprise 
as  to  give  shape  and  expression  to  certain  ideas  that  had  for 
years  been  floating  and  growing  in  his  mind  respecting  the  en- 
tanglement, in  our  earliest  charts,  of  the  northeast  coast  lines  of 
Asia  and  North  America,  and  the  confusion  growing  out  of  it, 
in  the  early  history,  geography,  and  chronology  of  the  new  Con- 
tinent. In  reprinting  that  paper  here,  with  considerable  revi- 
sion and  emendation,  necessary  to  harmonize  it,  he  finds  it  con- 
venient to  throw  the  chief  additional  matter  into  an  explanatory 
preface,  rather  than  rewrite  the  whole. 


1' 


,  » 


T 


8 

Recently  vast  stores  of  nmteriul  of  American  history  have 
Ix'cii  liroii^flit  to  liffht.  01(1  1  looks  and  nuijts  have  turned  up. 
IMlilioirnipliy  has  heeome  an  exact  science.  Documents  are 
scrutiiiizi'il  anew,  as  they  never  were  before.  New  histor- 
ical books  have  been  written,  old  ones  revived,  annotated,  edited 
and  reproduced,  to  such  an  extent  that  half  ati  American  his- 
torian's labor,  before  he  begins  his  narrative,  consi.sts  in  clear- 
ing away  the  rubbish  of  his  predecessors,  and  in  reconciling 
conflicting  authorities.  Tli';''c  is  something  manifestly  wrong 
in  this,  for  the  honest  Muse  of  History  is  not  such  a  muddler. 
Truth  is  not  so  obscured  in  the  other  coast  lines  of  this  hemi- 
sphere. 

In  1793  appeared  the  first  volume  of  Munos'  great  work. 
The  death  of  the  author  preventeil  its  continuation.  His  man- 
uscripts and  his  m.'intlc  fell  to  Senor  Navarrete,  who  published 
in  1825  his  first  two  volumes  on  the  voyages  o^'  Columbus, 
though  the  learned  compiler  had  bf^n  diligently  at  work  in  of- 
ficial and  private  archives  since  1789,  under  the  patronage  of 
the  Spnnish  goven\ment.  T'ton  followed  in  quick  successicm, 
in  1828,  a  translation  int(»  French  of  Navarrete's  volumes,  wita 
adilitions  by  prominent  members  of  the  Geographical  ^f^:".i:ty 
of  Paris.  The  same  year  Washington  Irving  gave  to  the  world 
his  Life  of  Cuhimbm^  built  confessedly  upon  Nu  .iTcte's  found- 
ation. The  year  1830  brought  forth  in  London  The  History  of 
Maritime  Discovery,  followed  and  cut  to  pieces  the  next  year 
by  Biddle's  Memoir  of  Sebastian  Cabot,  which  in  turn  was 
roughly  handled  in  1832  in  Tytler's  Historical  View  of  the 
Northern  Coat'ts  of  America.  Finally  in  1835-1839,  after  long 
and  gigantic  research,  ajipeared  Humboldt's  Examen  Critique,  a 
digest  of  all  that  had  preceded  it  respecting  the  causes  that  led 
to  the  discovery  of  the  New  World ;  the  facts  and  dates  of  the 
voyages  of  Columbus,  the  Cabots,  Vespucci,  and  others ;  the  ear- 
"^st  maps  and  charts,  etc. 

This  incomparable  work  was  a  masterly  survey  of  the  whole 
field  of  early  American  geogi-apliy,  and  though  unfinished  has 
been  the  parent  of  innumerable  minor  producti<ms.  The  large 
marine  chart  of  the  World  by  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  di-scovered  by 
Humboldt  in  1832,  was  here  used  for  the  first  time,  and  was  in 
many  respects  the  great  philosopher's  grand  card.     More  re- 


history  have 
:q  tiinied  u]). 
)Cumonts  are 
New  histor- 
otatcd,  I'dited 
Viiu'rioan  his- 
sists  in  clear- 
n  reconciling 
ifcstly  wrong 
;h  a  rniuMler. 
of  tliia  liemi- 

'  great  work. 
n.  nis  man- 
rho  published 
>^  Columbus, 
ivt  work  in  of- 

patronage  of 
i\<.  succession, 
i^oluines,  wita 
jhical  Src-joty 
J  to  the  world 

iTcte's  found- 
The  History  of 
the  next  year 

in  turn  was 

View  of  the 
39,  after  long 
nen  CVitique,  a 
auses  that  led 
[1  dates  of  the 
;hers ;  the  ear- 

■  of  the  whole 
infiuished  has 
IS.  The  large 
liscovered  by 
le,  and  was  in 
rd.     More  re- 


cently the  labors  of  Kuntsnumn  in  'Munich,  of  Santart'in  iiud 
Jonuird  in  Paris,  of  Giiillany  in  Nuremberg,  of  KuwiIdh  JJrowii 
in  Ven!  'e,  of  IJcrgenrotli  in  Spain,  have  broii'^lit  to  light  valii- 
al)l(3  original  material  illustrativ(!  of  maritinu!  discoviTy  urior 
to  1492,  as  well  as  of  the  voyages  of  Columbus,  Ve8j)ucci,  the 
Cabots,  Behaini,  and  others.  Still  more  recently  many  subjeots 
of  great  interest  and  inifjoilanec^  pertaining  to  our  earliest  ge- 
ography have  been  elabornted  by  Messrs.  LaSagra,  Iclewel, 
D'Avezae,  Varnhagen,  Major,  Peschel,  Bancroft,  Helps,  Park- 
man,  B.  Smith,  Murphy,  Lenox,  Aslier,  Hale,  Read,  Deane,  and 
not  least  by  Brevoort,  until  one  is  ready  to  exclaim  of  the  old  voy- 
agers. Are  their  ways  past  finding  out?  Yet  there  still  exists 
the  old  entanglement  in  the  American  and  Asiatic  coast  lines 
and  the  old  confusion  in  our  primitive  annals  and  geogrni)hy. 

A  new  summing  up  of  North  American  discovery  ha.s  aj)- 
peared  in  a  magnum  o])us  pi:l  'i  hed  in  April  of  this  year  by 
the  Maine  Historical  Society,  noiui.ially  the  History  of  the  Dis- 
covery of  Maine,  but  really  tl.e  history  of  the  discovery  of 
the  whole  eastern  coast  of  "N  rth  A  meriea.  This  learned  worl' 
by  John  G.  Kohl,  LL.u.  is  presumed  *ii  be  the  culminaticm  of 
all  that  is  known  and  recorded  on  this  vast  subject  from  Adam 
of  Bremen  to  Kohl  of  Bremen,  and  may  therefore  be  held  as 
tlie  present  state  jf  the  history  of  Nortli  American  geography 
and  discovery. 

There  is  appended  to  the  Maine  volume  u  remarkable  pa- 
per on  the  fviir  voyages  of  John  and  Sebastian  Cabot,  by  M. 
D'Avezac  of  Paris,  in  which  the  distinguished  French  geog- 
rapher, on  several  important  points,  expresses  views  [ireeisel}' 
op])osite  to  those  of  L)r.  Kohl.  Both  of  course  cannot  be  right, 
but  this  affords  an  apt  illustration  of  the  present  confused  con- 
dition of  our  geography.  However,  whether  in  all  respects  the 
Maine  volume  will  stand  the  test  of  criticism  or  not,  the  Histor- 
ical Society  of  Maine  is  deserving  of  liigh  commendation  for 
having  so  boldly  and  so  honestly  put  forth  this  expensive  for- 
eign production,  amply  illustrated  as  it  is  witli  facsimiles  (ut 
vulgo)  of  no  less  than  twenty-three  of  th.e  earliest  niaps.  The 
whole  question  is  now  brought  down  to  date  and  set  uj)  l.>etween 
t\\-o  boards  for  public  view  and  judgment.  No  geographer  has 
as  yet  done  the  work  better,  and  the  only  wonder  is  that  Dr. 


. 


i- 


' 


m 


W^i 


10 

Kohl  could  have  done  so  mucli  and  so  well,  even  from  his  point 
of  view,  in  the  short  time  allowed  him.     But — 

Still  the  writer  does  not  find  his  cravings  for  time  and  exact 
history  satisfied.  The  words  may,  perhaps,  and  probably,  arc 
the  menials  of  Fiction,  seldom  of  History.  Another  method  of 
treating  our  ancient  records,  he  has  thought,  might  possibly 
throw  new  light  on  the  old  geographical  puzzles  that  have  come 
down  to  us  from  and  before  the  Great  Discoverer,  and  reveal  the 
key.  The  truth  is  that  the  history  of  the  early  voyages  is  so 
bemuddled  by  recent  writers  (and  the  newly  discovered  old  ma- 
terials seem  only  to  add  to  the  confusion)  that  nothing  short  of 
an  entire  overhauling  of  first  principles,  and  resifting  of  facts, 
aided  by  rigid  chronology  and  compound  scrutiny,  will  enable 
us  to  take  clear  observations,  to  ascertain  our  bearings  and  show 
us  whither  we  have  drifted  these  four  hundred  years.  The 
writer  does  not  pretend  that  he  is  competent  to  do  this  himself, 
though  he  owns  to  the  consumption  of  no  little  midnight  petro- 
leum in  trying  to  read  old  records  by  the  new  light.  He  has 
attempted,  after  many  years  of  bibliographical  study,  to  step 
into  the  shoes  of  the  old  navigators,  pilots  and  cosmographers, 
to  see  as  they  saw,  beginning  fifty  years  before,  and  coming  down 
to  half  a  centuiy  after  Columbus,  taking  up  the  sequence  of 
events  as  they  occurred,  and  excluding  rigidly  all  subsequent 

testimony.  " 

In  the  following  paper  the  writer  has  given  a  rapid  sketch  ol 
some  of  his  observations  from  this  point  of  view.  A  few  of 
them  are  sufficiently  startling  if  true,  but  require,  no  doubt, 
further  elucidation  and  a  full  declaration  of  authorities.  These, 
when  space  is  more  abundant.  Meanwhile  the  reader  is  invited 
to  study  well  the  accompanying  photo-lithographic  facsimiles 
of  some  of  the  oldest  and  most  important  maps  and  charts  per- 
taining to  our  coasts.  It  is  not  permitted  to  every  one  to  see 
and  touch  the  precious  originals,  scattered  and  secluded  as  they 
arc,  in  various  public  and  private  repositories,  throughout  Europe 
and  America.  Not  three  persons  exist  probably  who  have  seen 
them  all.  The  copies  here  given,  imperfect  as  they  are,  speak 
cleariy  to  the  eye,  and  will  doubtless  repay  careful  examination, 
though  a  few  explanations  may  aid  the  reader  in  understanding 
them. 


en  from  his  point 

for  time  and  exact 
xnd  probably,  arc 
Lnotber  method  of 
t,  might  possibly 
es  that  have  come 
rer,  and  reveal  the 
arly  voyages  is  so 
iiscovered  old  ma- 
,t  nothing  short  of 
resifting  of  facts, 
•utiny,  will  enable 
bearings  and  show 
idred  years.  The 
to  do  this  himself, 
le  midnight  petro- 
3W  light.  He  has 
cal  study,  to  step 
nd  cosmographers, 
,  and  coming  down 
p  the  sequence  of 
;Ily  all  subsequent 

a  a  rapid  sketch  oi 
f  view.  A  few  of 
require,  no  doubt, 
uthorities.  These, 
le  reader  is  invited 
)graphic  facsimiles 
aps  and  charts  per- 
to  every  one  to  see 
id  secluded  as  they 
throughout  Europe 
ably  who  have  seen 
as  they  are,  speak 
ireful  examination, 
?r  in  understanding 


11 

And  first,  The  Portolano,  or  marine  chart  of  Juan  de  la  Cosa, 
made  by  him  at  Puerto  de  Santa  Maria,  near  Cadiz,  in  1500 
[Plate  I].  The  original,  bought  at  a  public  sale  in  Paris  about 
twenty  years  ago,  for  the  Queen  of  Spain,  against  the  writer, 
for  4020  francs,  is  now  preserved  in  the  Royal  Library  at  Mad- 
rid- It  is  on  oxhide,  five  feet  nine  inches  long,  by  three  feet 
two  inches  wide,  cut  square  off  at  the  tail,  a  little  beyond  the 
Ganges  and  Golden  Chersonesus,  so  as  to  be  attached  to  a  rol- 
ler ;  and  rounded  at  the  back  of  the  neck,  so  as  to  be  tied  with 
a  ribbon  when  rolled  up  after  the  manner  of  ancient  portolani. 
The  whole  world  is  laid  down,  including  the  entire  360  degrees 
of  longitude,  on  a  given  scale  of  fifteen  Spanish  leagues  to  a 
degree.  The  chart  is  well  drawn,  in  colors  and  heightened  with 
gold,  altogetlier  a  work  of  art  of  considerable  pretention.  It 
id  acknowledged  by  competent  judges,  to  be  the  earliest,  the 
most  important  and  the  most  authentic  geographical  monument 
relating  to  the  western  discoveries  that  has  come  down  to  us. 
It  was  not  discovered  until  after  Munos,  NavaiTcte,  Irving,  Biddlc 
and  Tytler  had  written  their  works,  and  hence  Humboldt  used  it 
constantly  and  with  effect  in  his  Examen  Critique,  as  well  as  in  his 
supplemental  chapter  prefixed  to  Ghillany's  Martin  Behaim  in 
1853.  A  full  sized  facsimile  was  published  by  M.  Jomard,  on 
three  double  elephant  folio  sheets,  some  fifteen  years  ago.  Of 
the  western  sheet,  or  third,  not  colored,  the  accompanying  re- 
duced facsimile  is  taken.  La  Sagra,  Lelewel,  Ghillany,  Kohl 
and  others  have  used  it  extensively  and  described  it.  All  ge- 
ographers admit  its  importance,  but  many  raise  objections 
greatly  diminishing  its  authority. 

These  objections  have  hitherto,  by  learned  geographers,  been 
deemed  unanswerable.  They  are :  Fi^-st,  That  Cuba  is  repre- 
sented as  an  island  in  the  year  1500,  and  is  misshaped  at  the 
western  extremity  by  curving  to  the  south  so  as  to  form  a 
kind  of  gulf,  when  in  fact  it  wag  not  ascertained  to  be  an 
island  till  Ocampo  circumnavigated  it  in  1508,  and  found  it  to 
extend  considerably  farther  to  the  west  than  La  Cosa's,  and  hav- 
ing no  such  curve.  Secoad,  that  the  American  coast  line  ex- 
tending from  a  point  west  of  Cuba  to  the  Mar  desubierta  por 
Yngleses  gives  no  proper  idea  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  Florida, 
New  York,  Cape  Cod  and  other  strongly  marked  coasts,  in  fact 

2 


I    \ 


■J 


!■ 


(  . 


il 


li 


'i 


12 


is  mere  guess  work.  Third,  that  the  discoveries  of  the  Cabot;- 
and  Cortereals  are  not  properly  laid  down,  and  that  the  coast  line 
does  not  resemble  that  from  Cape  Race  westward.  jS^nd  fourth, 
that  "  the  map  has  no  indication  of  the  degrees  of  latitude  " 
(Kohl,  p.  152)  and  longitude. 

These  four  objections  answered,  Juan  de  la  Cosa  is  vindicated, 
and  his  chart  becomes  tlie  authority.     Let  us  look  at  them. 
Answer,  First,  that  La  Cosa,  the  Maestro  de  hacer  cartas,  as  Co- 
lumbus styled  his  chart-maker,  did  not  intend  to  represent  Cuba 
to  be  an  island  (whatever  posterity  may  think  of  his  draw- 
ing) is  manifest  from  the  following  facts.     In  the  spring  of  149-i 
after  Columbus,  in  his  second  voyage,  had  sent  home  from  His- 
paniola  (his  Zipangu  or  Japan)  the  larger  part  of  his  fleet  un- 
der Antonio  de  ToiTes,  he  resolved  with  three  caravels  and 
about  eighty  men,  to  go  on  an  exploring  expedition  along  the 
south  side  of  Cuba  (which  he  for  sometime  persisted  in  naming 
Juana)  supposing  it  to  be  continental,  or  that  part  of  Asia  neai- 
Mangi.     Tliis  little  fleet  reached  Cuba  on  the  last  day  of  April 
at  a  point  named  Cabo  de  Fundabril,  previously  called  by  Co- 
lumbus Cape  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  point  where  the  West  ends 
and  the  East  begins.     Proceeding  westward  they  touched  at 
many  places,  the  names  of  most  of  which,  laid  down  by  La 
Cosa,  can  readily  be  recognized  in  the  narratives  of  the  Cura 
de  los  Palacios  and  Peter  Martyr,  as  well  as  in  later  maps. 
These  names  are  Cabo  de  Cruz,  Cabo  del  Serpienta,  Fumos,  Cabo 
Serafin,  Mangni,  Mont,  Bienbaso,  &g.     At  length  they  came  to  a 
turn  in  the  coast    to 'the    southwest.     This  place  Columbus 
named  Cabo  do  Bienespera,  or  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  a  guiding 
point    leading    him  on  toward  the  Golden  Chersonesus,   the 
bourne  of  his  hopes. 

Here  on  the  12th  of  June,  1494,  Columbus,  being  compelled 
from  shortness  of  provisions  and  other  reasons,  to  turn  back, 
caused  his  captains,  his  pilots,  his  master  of  charts,  and  all  his 
sailors  to  sign  a  declaration  under  oath,  that  they  believed  Cuba 
to  be  part  of  the  Continent  of  Asia,  near  Mangi ;  and  Juan  de 
la  Cosa  added  the  further  particulars  that  he  never  saw  and 
never  heard  tell  of  any  island  835  leagues  long,  and  hence  he 
believed  Cuba  to  be  in  Asia.  A  little  further  on  to  the  south - 
southwest,  amid  shoals  and  islands,  picking  his  way  and  grazing 


ies  of  the  Cabots 
that  the  coast  line 
ird.  And  fourth, 
;rees  of  latitude  " 

)osa  is  vindicated. 
IS  look  at  them, 
ace?  cartas,  as  Go- 
to represent  Cuba 
link  of  his  draw- 
the  spring  of  14:9-i 
it  home  from  His- 
rt  of  his  fleet  un- 
aree  caravels  and 
sedition  along  the 
jrsisted  in  naming 
part  of  Asia  netir 
last  day  of  April 
isly  called  by  Co- 
3re  the  West  ends 

they  touched  at 
laid  down  by  La 
tives  of  the  Cura 
IS  in  later  maps. 
5nta,  Fumos,  Cabo 
gth  they  came  to  a 

place  Columbus 

i  Hope,  a  guiding 

Chersonesus,   the 

i,  being  compelled 
ms,  to  turn  back, 
charts,  and  all  his 
liey  believed  Cuba 
ingi ;  and  Juan  de 
be  never  saw  and 
)ng,  and  hence  he 
r  on  to  the  south- 
s  way  and  grazing 


18 

the  sands,  Columbus  reached  another  place  which  he  named  Evan- 
ge.lista.     Here,  from  the  mast  head,  one  might  see  coasts  to  the 
north,  the  Bay  of  Cortes  and  the  Cayos  de  Iiidios  to  the  west, 
and  land  to  the  southwest  and  south,  the  whole,  with  islands 
and  keys,  appearing  continuous  so  as  to  form  a  gulf  of  consid- 
erable extent  studded  with  islets.    This  body  of  water  Colum- 
bus mistook  for  the  Gulf  of  Ganges !    "  Indise  Gangetidis  con- 
tinentem  earn  esse  plagam  contendit  Colonus,"  wrote  Peter  Mar- 
tyr to  Cardinal  Bernardino,  August,  1495,  on  the  authority  of 
a  letter  to  him  from  Columbus  himself.     This  place  was  the 
tarthest  point  touched  in  the  expedition,  "hanc  ultimam  exist- 
emati  continentis  oram  quam  ille  [Columbus]  attigit,  vocavit 
Evangelistam,"  again  wrote  P.  Martyr.     The  Admiral  longed  to 
eo  on  down  the  coast,  double  the  Golden  Chersonesus,  visit 
Calicut  and  Arabia,  and  so  return  to  Spain,  ever  going  west, 
'out  necessity  compelled  him,  the  next  day,  to  set  his  face  to- 
ward Hispaniola. 

Here  then  have  we  not  the  key  of  this  mystery,  the  parent  of 
a  hundred  geographical  blunders,  in  later  maps  ?  Evangelista 
is  on  the  west  side  of  the  Isle  of  Pines,  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
is  on  Cuba  to  the  N.N.E.  near  Batabano,  and  a  dash  of  green 
paint,  the  conventional  color  for  terra  incognita  in  old  portolani, 
marks  a  "cut-off"  and  completes  the  Gulf  of  Ganges  1  This 
simple  cut-off  shows  that  all  beyond  was  unknown.  Three  days 
more,  had  Columbus  persevered  toward  the  west,  would  have 
brought  him  to  the  end  of  Cuba,  and  dispelled  all  his  grand 
visions  of  the  Province  of  Mangi,  and  the  incomparable  riches 
of  the  Grand  Kahn  of  Cathay.  Cuba  is  then  here  not  an  island, 
but  is  merely  cut  off  in  the  usual  way  by  La  Cosa  himself 
who  was  there  with  the  Admiral,  and  who  laid  down  the  track 
of  the  whole  expedition  with  marvellous  tmthfnlness.* 

*  TUivBch,  seven  vears  later  (PI.  2,  No.  3)  understood  this  perfectly,  and  in  liis 
Continental  Cuba  marked  this  cut-off  more  distinctly.  He  has  preserved  the  "Gulf 
of  Ganges,"  but  has  disguised  some  of  the  names  of  places.  Cape  S-rnphin  where 
the  vvhite  priest  was  seen,  is  changed  to  Cvlenr  [c.  vicar?]  and  Kvangolista  to  C.  S. 
Marei,  one  of  the  Kvanpelists.  The  south  side  of  Cuba  is  a  literal  copy  ol  La 
Cosa's  eliart  laid  down  from  actual  survey  in  company  with  Columbus  himsell,  but 
the  north  ^ido  considered  as  part  of  Asia  beyond  /ipangu,  is  carried  up  to  about 
40^  N.  latitude,  above  C.  Klicontii  tlie  same  as  in  Fra  Mauro's  map  of  1457  and 
Hi-haim's  t'lolje  "f  1492.  The  Gennau  peoKraphers  of  St  Die  and  Stras- 
burg.  (who  probably  never  saw  salt  water)  in  their  map  in  the   Ptolemy  of  1513, 


•r 


14 

The  answer  to  the  second  objection,  as  to  the  American  coast 
line  from  the  west  of  Cuba  to  Bacalaos  is  simply  that  La  Cosa 
intended  that  line  for  Asia.  In  1500  neither  he  nor  anybody 
else  susjjccted  or  dreamed  of  an  intervening  Continent.  La  Cosa 
projected  a  map  of  the  whole  world,  the  Eastern  Asia  of  Marco 
Polo  and  Sir  John  Mandeville  included.  Cutting  his  map  off 
at  the  Golden  Chereonesus,  beyond  the  Gknges,  so  as  to  attach 
it  to  a  roller,  how  else  could  he  complete  Asia  and  the  360  de- 
grees of  longitude  but  by  the  line  he  drew  on  the  other  side  of 
the  globe  ?  Asia  and  America  are  not  both  laid  down.  Which 
is  omitted  ?    If  this  line  be  the  unknown  new  Continent,  what 

probably  made  as  early  as  1508,  (PI.  2,  No.  1)  have  copied  La  Cosa  and  Ruysch  both, 
makinjf  Spagnola  and  Isabella  answer  for  the  Japanese  islands,  aU  the  names  being 
transferred  to  their  Continental  Cuba  with  most  of  the  names  of  La  Cosa  and  Ruysch 
Italianized,  and  almost  obscured  in  the  '.ransfer.  Corveo,  Anterlinoi,  Cvlcar  and 
Lago  de  Loro  of  Ruysch  become  Coruello,  G.  delinor,  C.  lurcar,  and  lago  dellodro  in 
the  1513,  while  C.  Blicontii  becomes  0.  delicontir.  La  Cosa's  Mar  Oceanus,  north 
of  Cuba,  becomes  C.  del  mar  usiano  and  is  carried  up  to  latitude  54°.  The  Gulf  of 
Ganges  is  not  only  preserved,  with  all  the  islands  of  La  Cosa,  but  the  three  mouthed 
Ganges  itself  is  made  to  empty  into  tho  gulf  I  All  this  Terra  de  Cuha  was  thought 
somehow,  to  pertain  to  Asia,  for  no  one  yet  had  dreamed  of  an  mtervening  conti- 
nent. 

The  north  side  of  Cuba  in  La  Cosa's  chart,  west  of  Rio  Mares  (the  farthest 
point  readied  by  Columbus  in  his  first  voyage,  the  3l8t  of  October,  1492,)  is  col- 
ored ns  terra  incognita  having  no  defined  coast  line.  The  very  accurate  manner  in 
which  the  whole  coast  eastward  of  this  point  is  laid  down  renders  it  almost  certam 
that  La  Cosa  accompanied  Columbus  also  in  his  first  voyage  as  his  Maestro  de 
Cartas.  If  so,  considering  his  subordinate  position,  may  not  this  be  in  substance 
the  long  lost  chart  of  Columbus?  The  names  on  the  north  side  of  Cuba  between 
Rio  Mares  and  Cabo  de  Fundabril  written  In  full  are  rio  Mares,  rio  Luna,  Cabo  do 
Cuba,  punta  de  Mar  Nuestra  Senora,  punta  de  Santa  Maria,  Cabo  Rico,  Puerto 
Santo,  rio  de  la  Vega,  Cabolindo  and  ponta  de  Cuba,  corresponding  ahnost  exactly 
with  the  log  book  or  journal  of  the  first  voyage  of  Columbus  as  preserved  by  Las 
Casas. 

The  conclusions  therefore  to  which  all  these  old  facts  and  new  readings  force  one 
arc  obvious,  and  opposed  to  the  generally  expressed  opinions  of  geographers.  It 
should,  however,  be  mentioned  that  Senhor  Vamhagen,  an  earnest  and  painstakmg 
investigator,  whose  opinions  are  generally  entitled  to  the  highest  respect,  in  his  val- 
uable work  on  "Vespucci,  printed  in  Lima,  in  1865,  in  folio,  differs  from  the  writer, 
interpreting  the  bay,  tho  three  moutlied  river,  and  the  point  of  laud,  west  of  Isa- 
bella, in  the  1513  map,  to  be  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  Mississippi  River,  and  Florida. 
It  is  diflScult,  on  this  theory,  to  account  for  the  island  of  Isabella  being  denuded 
of  its  names,  and  tho  well-known  Cabo  Fundabril  being  transferred  to  Florida. 
Tlie  influence  of  La  Cosa's  chart,  and  the  later  maps  interpreted  by  its  new  read- 
ings, will  no  doubt  shed  much  new  light  on  Vespucci's  letters  and  voyafres. 


4 


16 


American  coast 
ly  that  La  Cosa 
lie  nor  anybody 
iinent.  La  Cosa 
n  Asia  of  Marco 
ting  his  map  off 
;,  so  as  to  attach 

and  the  360  de- 
the  other  side  of 
I  down.  Which 
Continent,  what 

'osa  and  Ruysch  both, 
3,  all  the  names  being 
r  La  Cosa  and  Ruysch 
jiterlinoi,  Cvlcar  and 
r,  and  lago  dellodro  in 
s  Mar  Oceanus,  north 
ide  54°.  The  Gulf  of 
Dut  the  three  mouthed 
de  Cuba  was  thought 
an  intervening  conti- 

)  Mares  (the  farthest 
October,  1492,)  is  col- 
y  accurate  manner  in 
iders  it  almost  certain 
e  as  his  Maestro  de 
I;  this  be  in  substance 
side  of  Cuba  between 
res,  rio  Luna,  Cabo  de 
ia,  Cabo  Rico,  Puerto 
ending  almost  exactly 
1  as  preserved  by  Las 

lew  readings  force  one 
IS  of  geographers.  It 
imest  and  painstakmg 
lest  respect,  in  his  val* 
liffers  from  the  writer, 
t  of  laud,  west  of  Isa- 
ppi  River,  and  Florida, 
sabella  being  denuded 
transferred  to  Florida, 
ireted  by  its  new  read- 
rs  and  voyasres. 


has  he  done  with  the  well  known  part  of  the  old  Continent? 
Furthermore,  where  are  Zipangu  and  the  islands  of  the  Eastern 
Archipelago  described  by  Marco  Polo  anJ  so  ardently  sought  by 
Columbus?  If  Cuba  be  Zaiton  or  Mangi,  surely  IJispaniola 
must  be  Zipangu  [PI.  2,  No,  8]  How  else  could  Columbus 
reason?  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  is  great  similarity 
in  the  coasts  of  Eastern  Asia  and  America.  From  all  this  it  is 
apparent  that  La  Cosa  and  his  map  are  not  responsible  for  erro- 
neous conclusions  drawn  by  modem  geographers. 

The  third  objection,  respecting  the  coast  line  of  the  Cabots 
and  the  Cortereals,  from  Cape  Kace  westward,  may  be  met  by 
the  fact  that  La  Cosa  has  laid  down  no  such  line.    Cape  Kace  is 
in  latitude  46°  40',  and  Cape  Sable  in  Nova  Scotia,  is  43°  24'. 
La  Cosa's  coast  line  in  the  north,  marked  by  five  English  flags, 
begins  at  latitude  53°  N.  that  is  the  Straits  of  Belle  Isle,  and 
extends  very  nearly  west  to  the  meridian  of  the  Virgin  Islands. 
It  is,  in  short,  the  northern  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  St  Lawrence,  pret- 
ty accurately  depicted.    Of  course  it  is  to  be  understood  that 
the  Cabots  in  1497,  as  well  as  La  Cosa  in  1500,  supposed  this 
coast  to  be  in  Eaatem  Asia.    This  chart  carefully  compared  with 
Sebastian  Cabot's  map  of  1644  [PI.  4,  No.  1,]  and  studied  with 
the  new  material  lately  brought  to  light  by  Mr.  Rawdon  Brown 
in  Venice,  and  Mr.  Bergenroth  in  Madrid,  will,  it  is  believed, 
harmonize  well,  as  contemporary  documents,  and  throw  into  the 
shade  the  loose  gossip,  long  after  date,  reported  by  Butrigarius, 
Peter  Martyr  and  Mr.  Secretary  Williamson.     The  words  Mar 
descvbierta  par  Yngleses,  instead  of  Mar  Oceanus,  show  it  to  be 
a  sea  or  gulf  and  not  the  open  ocean.    If  the  reader  will  lay 
down  on  La  Cosa's  chart  Newfoundland,  Cape  Breton  Island, 
Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick  in  their  proper  latitudes  and 
longitudes,  he  will  doubtless  be  surprised  at  the  result,  espe- 
cially when  he  compares  it  with  the  map  of  F.  G.  in  Hakluyt's 
Peter  Martyr  of  1587  [PI  3,  No.  1].    In  this  map  Bacalaos  is 
laid  down  as  discovered  by  the  English  under  the  grant  of  1496 
on  the  north  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  St  Lawrence.     The  discoveries 
of  the  Cortereals  could  not  have  been  known  by  La  Cosa  in 

1500. 

The  fourth  objection  is  answered  by  simply  looking  for  a  mo- 
ment at  the  original  map,  or  at  M.  Jomard's  facsimile,  and  not  at 


li:i 


f1 


16 


70 


0  -i     J       ''«" 

,4  2."  31"" 


the  imperfect  ones  generall}"  in  use.  The  indications  of  lati- 
tude and  longitude  are  abundant,  and  there  is  a  good  scale  both 
at  the  top  and  the  bottom  of  the  chart.  The  equator  is  given, 
and  the  tropic  of  Cancer,  28  i°,  and  guiding  lines  or  parallels  pass 
through  the  Straits  of  Gibralter,  36°,  and  Paris,  48°  40'.  These 
fixed  points,  with  the  scale,  will  help  the  reader  to  the  latitude  of 
any  other  place.    Longitude  can  be  determined  in  a  similar  way. 

The  eclipse  that  took  place  in  Sept.  1494,  immedijitely  after 
his  return  to  Hispaniola  from  Cuba,  was  a  most  important  event 
for  Columbus,  because  it  enabled  him  to  determine  the  longi- 
tude of  his  discoveries.  He  found  that  the  middle  oi  Hispani- 
ola was  nearly  five  hours  west  of  Seville,  or  about  70°.  La 
Cosa's  scale  makes  this  distance  to  be  about  68°,  sufficiently 
near,  considering  the  mode  of  measuring  time  then,  before 
Copernicus  had  commanded  the  sun  to  stand  still.  Columbus' 
mistakes  in  latitude  are  difficult  to  be  accounted  for,  but  they 
do  not  afl'ect  the  observations  of  the  Cabots  in  the  north,  or 
those  of  Vespucci  and  Ojeda  in  the  south,  as  very  accurately 
laid  down  by  La  Cosa  Columbus  in  his  log  book  places 
Cuba  and  Hispaniola  some  seven  or  eight  degrees  too  far  north. 
He  seems  however  to  have  been  aware  that  he  was  out  in  his 
calculations,  and  on  one  occasion  threw  aside  his  instruments  as 
defective,  preferring  to  defer  his  observations  till  he  reached  the 
land.  La  Cosa  has  however  retained  all  these  errors  of  latitude 
of  the  first  and  second  voyages,  though  he  is  nearly  con-ect  in 
his  latitude  of  the  northern  coast  of  South  America. 

Now  if  these  objections  are  fairly  answered.  La  Cosa  not  only 
emerges  cleared  from  a  vast  amount  of  unjust  criticism,  but  his 
chart  becomes  a  beacon  of  light  in  the  early  annals  of  America. 
It  tells  posterity,  as  it  is  told  nowhere  else  so  truthfully,  of  Co- 
lumbus, his  discoveries  and  his  mistakes,  and  depicts  in  honest 
lines  just  how  far  the  Great  Explorer  groped  his  way  blind- 
folded toward  the  west.  The  American  historian  has  no  longer 
any  difficulty  i.i  tracing  the  track  of  Columbus  to  the  very  end, 
and  accounting  for  the  true  and  false  lines  in  his  continental  or 
Asiatic  Cuba.  He  sees  how  the  Asiatic  lines  grew  in  the  map 
of  Ruysch  of  1508,  while  those  of  La  Cosa  remained  the  same  ; 
how  also  in  the  maps  of  Bernard  Sylvanus  in  1511,  of  the 
Gymnasium  of  St  Die  in  1513,  of  the  Margarita  Philosophica 


itions  of  lati- 
3od  scale  both 
ator  18  given, 

parallels  pass 
°  40'.  These 
the  latitude  of 
a  similar  way. 
edijitely  after 
iportant  event 
ne  the  longi- 
le  01  Hispani- 
out  70=".  La 
°,  sufficiently 

then,  before 
.  Columbus' 
for,  but  they 
the  north,  or 
ery  accurately 

book  places 
too  far  north. 
ivas  out  in  his 
nstruments  as 
le  reached  the 
ors  of  latitude 
irly  con-ect  in 
ica. 

Cosa  not  only 
ticism,  but  his 
Is  of  America. 
thfuUy,  of  Co- 
Diets  in  honest 
is  way  blind- 
1  has  no  longer 
)  the  very  end, 
continental  or 
nv  in  the  map 
aed  the  same ; 

1511,  of  the 

Philosophica 


~Tl 


17 

in  1515,  of  Apian  and  Schoner  in  1520,  of  Bordonc  in  1521, 
of  Lawrence  Fries  in  1522,  of  Orontius  Fine  in  1531,  and  of 
Sebastian  Muenster  in  the  Grynaeus  of  1532.  In  all  th(ise  old 
maps  the  geographer  can  at  a  glance,  nc^w  that  the  key  is  re- 
covered, trace  the  true  coast  lines,  for  he  knows  the  origin  of 
the  false  ones,  thanks  to  painstaking  La  Cosa.  Considoi-ing  tiie 
state  of  geographical,  astronomical,  and  nautical  knowledge  at 
that  time,  and  the  muddle  of  the  map-makers,  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  the  discoveries  of  Balboa,  of  Magellan,  of 
Cortes,  of  Ponce  de  Leon  and  Ayllon,  led  to  some  bewilder- 
ment, and  puzzled  even  the  coynosamtl  of  the  Congress  of 
Badajos. 

It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  here,  however,  that  many  writers 
claim  that  the  Cabots  in  1497  and  1498  discovered  and  explored 
the  coast  of  the  present  United  States  from  Nova  Scotia  to  the 
Chesapeak  Bay,  and  some  even  contend  that  the  Cape  of  Florida 
was  reached ;  and  hence,  as  every  thing  was  immediately  known 
in  Spain,  the  discovery  of  the  entire  North  American  oojist 
might  have  been  known  to  La  Cosa  in  time  to  be  laid  down  in 
its  general  trending  though  not  with  accuracy  in  1500,  from  John 
Cabot's  own  map,  which  the  Spanish  minister  in  London  de- 
clares he  saw.     It  matters  not  whether  La  Cosa  and  John  Cabot 
thought  it  the  coast  of  Asia  or  an  intervening  Continent,  if  it 
was  really  laid  down  from  actual  observation.     But  La  Cosa 
positively  limits,  in  a  very  definite  manner,  the  discoveries  of 
the  English,  to  the  Mar,  or  Gulf  of  St  Lawrence.     And  the 
highly  important  Portuguese  portolano,  made  about  1514,  one 
of  the  earliest  and  honestest  maps  known  (Plate  V)  after  adding 
the  discoveries  of  the  Cortereals,  and  Ponce  de  Leon,  leaves  the 
whole  space  from  Nova  Scotia  to  Charleston  open,  as  being 
entirely  unknown.     Now  these  writers  arc  invited  to  recollect 
that  all  the  testimony  on  which  these  theories  are  based  is  not 
only  very  loose,  but  recorded  in  a  gossipping  way,  sometimes 
second  and  even  third  handed,  long  subsequent  to  the  events 
themselves,  and  have  since  been  quoted  and  maintained  with 
national  asperity,  chiefly  in  diplomatic  discussions  and  some- 
times without  a  proper  regard  for  historic  truth.     While  on  the 
other  hand  all  the  contemporary  documents  recently  found  tend 
to  show  that  the  Cabots'  discoveries  were  confined  to  the  Gulf 


,.t.li 


T 


18 

of  Si  Lawrence  and  north  of  it.  La  Cosa's  testimony  is  strong, 
nor  docs  Sebastian  Cabot's  own  map  made  in  1644,  said  to  have 
btan  engraved  by  Clement  Adams,  containing  the  new  discov- 
eries of  the  English,  French,  Spanish  and  Portuguese  to  1642, 
(Plate  IV,  N°  1)  in  the  least  invalidate  it 

The  new  papers  of  1497-98  brought  to  light  from  the  Ar- 
chives of  Simancas  and  Venice  give  details  only  of  John  Cabot 
and  his  voyage  of  1497,  and  simply  aliode  to  the  expedition  of 
1498  as  not  yel  returned.     Nothing  on  contemporary  authority 
is  known  of  this  latter  voyage  or  of  Sebastian  Cabot's  connec- 
tion with  it.     It  is  always  dangerous  to  attempt  the  proof  of  a 
negative,  for  any  day  new  documents  may  turn  up.      Don 
Pedro  de  Ayala  wrote  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  from  London 
the  25th  July,  1498,  of  John  Cabot,  "I  have  seen  the  map 
which  the  discoverer  has  made  who  is  another  Oenoise,  like 
Columbus,  and  who  has  been  in  Seville  and  in  Lisbon,  asking 
assistance  for  his  discoveries.     The  people  of  Bristol  have,  for 
the  last  seven  years,  sent  out  every  year  two,  three  or  four 
caravels  in  search  of  the  island  of  Brazil  and  the  Seven  Cities, 
according  to  the  fancy  of  this  Genoise.     The  king  determined 
to  send  out  [more  ships  this  year,  1498]  because  last  year  they 
brought  certain  news  that  they  had  found  land."     ''^his  passage 
is  positive,  important  and  suggestive.     In  the  first  place  it  dis- 
poses of  the  pretence  that  the  Continent  was  discpvered  on  the 
24th  of  June,  1494,  instead  of  1497,  and  it  suggests  a  plausible 
theory  to  account  for  John  Cabot's  movements  between  the 
granting  of  his  charter  in  March,  1496,  and  the  sailing  of  his 
ship  in  May,  1497.     During  part  of  this  long  year  this  Genois 
might  have  been  with  his  fellow  townsman  Columbus  at  Seville, 
who  had  just  returned  from  his  second  voyage  of  three  yeai-s, 
bringing  his  chart-master,  Juan  de  La  Cosa  with  him.     Cabot 
was  a  Venetian  only  by  naturalization.     This  is  of  course  only  a 
suggestion,  but  it  shows  the  early  connection  of  the  Cabots  with 
Spain,  if  not  with  Columbus  and  La  Cosa. 

It  is  well  known,  however,  that  Sebastian  Cabot  in  October, 
1612,  was  residing  at  Seville,  with  s  royal  commission  in  his 
pocket  as  Captam,  awaiting  orders,  in  the  service  of  the  King 
of  Spain.  Here  he  became  the  intimate  friend  of  Peter  Martyr 
of  the  Council  of  the  Indies,  and  shortly  after  became  a  mem- 


lony  is  strong, 
4,  said  to  have 
e  new  discov- 
5uese  to  1642, 

from  the  Ar- 
of  Jolin  Cabot 
}  expedition  of 
irary  authority 
labot's  connec- 
the  proof  of  a 
irn  up.  Don 
,  from  London 
seen  the  map 
r  Genoise,  like 
Lisbon,  asking 
istol  have,  for 

three  or  four 
3  Seven  Cities, 
ng  determined 
last  year  they 
^his  passage 
ret  place  it  dis- 
wpvered  on  the 
ests  a  plausible 
a  between  the 
e  sailing  of  his 
ear  this  Oenois 
nbus  at  Seville, 
of  three  yeara, 
;h  him.  Cabot 
of  course  only  a 
the  Cabots  with 

3ot  in  October, 
imission  in  his 
36  of  the  King 
of  Peter  Martyr 
tecame  a  mem- 


.^^.-    1 1,    mttm. 


19 

ber  of  that  board  himself.  A  little  later,  rising  in  honors  and 
salary,  he  became  in  1518  tlie  Tilot  Major  of  Spain,  and  in 
1524  was  dejnitcd  to  preside  over  the  celelirated  geograjiliieal 
Congress  of  Badajos.  Now  in  these  several  ollicial  positions  it 
was  his  duty  to  superintend  and  watch  over  all  the  discoveries 
and  explorations  of  the  Spanish  navigators.  He  was  a  man  of 
vast  experience  and  was  presumed  to  know  all  that  had  been 
discovered  by  his  contemporaries.  Is  it  reasonable,  therolbre, 
to  suppose  that  if  he  had  been  down  the  coast  from  Baealaos 
in  1498  to  30°  or  to  25^  he  would  in  1513,  in  1520,  in  1524  and 
1526,  have  yielded  without  a  word  of  jirotest,  these  discoveries,  to 
Ponce  de  Leon,  Ayllon  and  Gomez,  to  say  nothing  of  Veraz- 
zano.  No  writer  pretends  to  deprive  these  navigators  of  their 
rights  as  discoverers,  and  no  protest  or  contemporary  claim  is 
forthcoming  from  Sebastian  Cabot,  who  was  all  the  time  in  the 
field  and  well  acquainted  with  the  aftair.s. 

Before  1520  the  Portuguese  began  to  comprehend  better  the 
longitude  of  the  Moluccas  and  other  of  their  possessions  in  the 
East,  and  geographers  began  to  suspect  an  intervening  space 
not  accounted  for.  At  first  strange  guesses  were  recorded  as  to 
the  extent  and  direction  of  the  South  Sea,  by  Schoner  and  oth- 
ers, but  after  the  appearance  of  the  map  of  Cortes  [PI.  4  No.  7] 
in  1524,  the  cuhnination  of  absurdity  appeared  in  the  double- 
hearted  projection  of  Orontius  Fine  in  July,  1531,  [PI.  3,  No.  3 
and  4].  Schoner  in  describing  his  own  newly  imjn-oved  globe- 
in  1532,  exactly  describes  this  map.  The  South  Sea  was  re- 
presented as  south  of  the  equator,  while  Asia  was  brought  for- 
ward to  Baealaos.  One  can  readily  see  how  all  this  gi-ew  up,  as 
one  can  also  see  how,  by  slow  degrees,  their  false  Asia  receded 
and  melted  away,  for  above  200  years,  as  the  western  coast  of 
America  and  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia  were  explored  by  Span- 
ish, English,  French  and  Russian  navigators,  till  the  year  1727, 
when  a  strait  was  opened  by  Beliring,  and  Asia  and  America 
became  divorced. 

It  was  the  writer's  intention  to  try  and  trace  out  the  history 
of  the  first  exploration  of  the  entire  coast  of  the  United  States, 
until  the  last  thread  of  the  Asiatic  line  was  expunged  by  Capt. 
John  Smith  before  1614.  But  that  labor,  even  if  he  had  time 
and  space,  is  reserved  for  an. abler  pen.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Leonard 
3 


^,.^,.--    ■    ■..-.^f.iC, 


20 


y\ 


Woods,  late  President  of  Bowdoin  College,  lina  on  the  nnvil  n- 
alreudy  announced,  for  the  Maine  Historical  Soeiety's  next  vol 
ume,  an  original  unpublished  inanuscript  of  Richard  Ilukluyt. 
of  the  highest  historical  and  geographical  interest.  It  is  on- 
titled  "  A  particular  discourse  concerning  the  greate  necessiti*' 
and  manifold  coirKxlyties  that  arc  like  to  grow  to  thi."  Realme 
of  Englandc  by  the  westerno  discoveries  lately  attempted,  writ 
ten  in  the  yere  1584,  by  Richarde  Ilakluyt  .  .  .  ai  the  requestc 
of  Mr.  Walter  Raleigh  before  the  comynge  home  of  his  twf) 
Barkes  [from  Virginia],"  &c.  This  valuable  manuscript,  con- 
sisting of  sixty-three  large  closely  written  folio  pages,  was  in 
the  possession  of  the  writer  for  two  or  three  years,  having  lallen 
into  his  hands  some  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  ago  l»y  a  piece 
of  good  luck,  after  a  bibliographical  tournament  memorable  as 
any  recorded  by  Dibdin.  After  fruitless  endeavors  to  find  Ibi' 
it  a  resting  place  in  some  public  or  private  library  in  America, 
and  subsequently  in  the  British  Museum,  it  finally  became  the 
property  of  Sir  Thomas  Phillipps.  So  impressed  was  the 
writer  with  its  importance  that  immediately  on  learning  the  ob- 
ject of  Dr.  Wood's  mission  to  England  in  the  autumn  of  1867, 
he  called  the  doctor's  attention  to  it,  and  suggested  his  procuring 
a  copy,  if  possible,  for  publication  by  the  Maine  Historical  So- 
ciety. He  trusts  soon  to  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Richard 
Hakluyt  again  in  pi'int,  not  alone  because  he  is  .an  old  friend, 
but  because  he  is  likely  to  render  any  further  discussion  of  the 
present  subject,  on  the  part  of  the  writer,  supei-fluous. 


.8  on  the  nnvil  as 
x'icty'fi  next  vol 
ichard  Ilakluyt. 
erest.  It  is  en- 
greate  neccssiti*' 
to  tlii."  Realtni' 
attempted,  writ- 
.  ai  the  requeste 
lome  of  his  two 
mauuacript,  con- 

0  pages,  was  in 
irs,  having  liillen 

ago  by  a  piece 
nt  memorable  as 
Ivors  to  find  for 
ary  in  America, 
lally  became  the 
pressed  was  the 
learning  the  ol)- 
lutumn  of  1867, 
;ed  his  procuring 
le  Historical  So- 
seeing  Richard 

1  .an  old  friend, 
liscussion  of  the 
i-fluous. 


■^0 


HISTORICAL  AND  GEOGIIAPIIICAL  NOFES 

1453-1530 


A  retrospect  of  four  centuries,  with  a  rapid  glance  at  the 
[>rogrer5s  of  modern  discovery,  exploration  and  invention,  will 
probably  serve  as  an  appropriate  introduction  to  our  projected 
scheme  of  Interoooanic  Communication  by  means  of  the  Tehu- 
iintepec  Railway,  and  show  that  the  time  is  near  at  hand  for  its 
accomplishment.     Let  us,  therefore,  go  back  for  a  moment,  and 
survey  the  little  old  worid  and  its  inhabitants  as  they  appeared 
about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century.     According  to  Ptol- 
emy, the  best  recognized  authority,  whose  geography  had  stood 
the  test  of  thirteen  hundred  years,  the  then  known  world  was 
a  strip  of  some  seventy  degrees  wide,  mostly  north  of  the  equa- 
tor, with  Cadiz  on  the  west,  and  farthest  India  or  Cathay  on  the 
east,  lying  between  the  frozen  and  burning  zones,  both  impassa- 
ble by  man.     The  inhabitants,  as  far  as  known  in  Europe,  were 
Christians  and  Mohamedans,  the  one  sect  about  half  the  age  of 
the  other.     Christendom,  the  elder,  that  once  held  considerable 
portions  of  Asia  and  Africa,  had  been  driven  back  inch  by  inch, 
in  spite  of  the  Crusades,  even  from  the  Holy  Land,  the  place  of 
its  lurth,  up  into  the  northwest  comer  of  Europe ;  and  both  in 
lands  and  people  was  outnumbered  six  to  one  by  the  followers 
of  Mahomet.     For  seven  hundred  years  the  fairest  provinces  of 
Spain  acknowledged  the  sway  of  the  Moors,  and  the  Mediter- 
ranean, from  Jalfu  to  the  Gates  of  Hercules,  was  under  their 
control.     The  crescent  was  constantly  encroaching  on  the  cross  ; 
while  Christendom,  schismatic,  dismayed,  demoralized  and  dis- 
heartened, seemed  almost  incapable  of  further  resistance. 

India  beyond  the  Ganges,  from  the  days  of  Moses,  Alexan- 
der, and  Aristotle,  to  say  nothing  of  the  geographers  Pompo- 
iiius  Mela,  Stral)o  and  Ptolemy,  was  deemed  the  land  of  prom- 
ise, the  abode  of  luxury,  the  source  of  wealth,  and  the  home  of 


;i 


ff 


h 


H 


the  Hpioes;  but  the  routes  of  cnmrnorco  thitlior,  via  Vctiipo  iiml 
(n'iK)ii,  hy  tho  H<h1  Swi,  Egypt,  the  IJile,  Arahia,  Asia  Minor, 
the  Hhick  aii<l  Caspian  Seas,  throuf^li  I'crHiu  and  Tartary,  W(!rc 
OIK!  liy  OIK!  hcingclost'd  to  (Jhristiaiis.  'Plii'  pmlitM  ol'  tiu'  over- 
land (iarrying  trade  were  mostly  in  the  hands  ol'  the  Anihiaiifl, 
who  iniierited  it  from  tlie  Uonians;  l)ul  Mcnipliis,  Thelics,  and 
Cairo,  that  flourished  l)y  it,  had  (h-i-lined  as  it  Icli  olf,  and  yieliUnl 
to  Alexanch'ia  nearer  the  sea.  Finally,  in  14r»;5,  Constantino- 
ple, the  Christian  city  of  Constantiiie,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Turks,  and  with  it  the  comnitireiiof  the  IMaek  Sea  and  the  Hos- 
phoiMis,  the  last  of  the  old  trailing  routes  iroin  the  Kiu«t  to  the 
West.  Christendom  for  a  time  was  fliseonsolate,  an<l  eould  only 
"  pray  for  the  conterition  of  the  Turks."  The  whole  of  tiie  ear- 
rying  trade  passed  into  the  hands  of  middles  men  or  agents,  who 
passed  goods  witlio\it  news,  and  India  hecatne  more  a  land  of 
mystery  than  ever;  hut  this  apparent  misfortune  proved  to  be 
the  beginning  of  a  new  and  brighter  era. 

The  learned  Christians  of  Constantinople,  with  nothing  ^<  .i 
their  heads  and  their  books,  (led  in  exih.'  into  Italy,  andbeeaiue 
its  schoolmasters.  At  onee  i)egan  there  the  revival  of  learning, 
which  soon  extended  throughout  the  West.  "  Westward  the 
course  of  empire  takes  its  way."  The  Mediei  family  of  Italy, 
at  Venice  and  Floi'euee,  welcomed  these  learned  Greeks,  and 
bought  their  precious  manuscripts  of  ancient  lore.  The  gun- 
powder of  Europe  had  already  silenced  the  G"eek  Fire  of  Asia. 
On  the  Rhine  the  young  j)rinting  press  was  juat  giving  forth  it»s 
first  sheets.  The  compass  and  the  astrolabe,  recent  inventions, 
began  now  to  give  contidence  to  mariners  ami  tnieh  them  Jiat, 
though  the  old  paths  of  trade  overland  were  closed,  they  might 
venture  on  new  ones  over  sea.  In  1453,  in  western  Euroi^c 
there  was  no  tea,  no  coffee,  no  tobacco,  no  Indian  corn,  no  po- 
tatoes ;  and  many  of  the  necessities  of  oui'  day  were  not  even 
known  as  luxuries.  Though  the  Crusades  had  failed  in  their 
immediate  objects,  they  had  exposed  the  secrets  of  the  India 
trade,  and  the  vast  revenues  of  the  eastern  cities.  The  manu- 
script travels  of  Marco  Polo  and  Sir  John  Mandeville  had  found 
their  way  into  the  hands  of  thinking  men.  Venice  was  already 
waning,  preparatory  to  yielding  its  trade  to  Portugal,  the  then 
most  rising  and  active  maritime  power.     Prince  Henry  the  Nav- 


W 


28 


via  Vctiipo  iiiul 
in,  A.sia  Minor, 
1  'rjutiirv,  wore 
tits  (if  tilt'  ovcr- 
'  tho  Araliiaiis, 
is,  'I'liolicH,  jiiid 
oil",  and  yii'Idcd 
.'),  Conatatitiiio- 
lie  liaiids  of  tlic 
ca  and  tlie  l?os- 
tlx'  Kiu«t  to  the 

and  coMld  only 
liole  of  tlie  car- 
or  agents,  wlio 
more  u  land  of 
10  proved  to  be 

til  not) ling  1iut 
ily,  and  became 
vul  of  learning, 
'  Westward  tiie 
I'aniily  of  Italy, 
ed  Greeks,  and 
ore.  The  gun- 
3k  Fire  of  Asia, 
giving  forth  its 
.'cnt  inventions, 
nicli  tlieni  Jiat, 
sed,  they  might 
vestern  Euroijc 
an  corn,  no  po- 
wcre  not  even 
.  failed  in  their 
3t8  of  the  India 
es.  The  manu- 
iville  liad  fonnd 
lice  was  already 
rtugal,  the  then 
Ileiiry  the  Nav- 


igator had  still  ton  years  to  live  to  carry  ont  his  groat  schomos 
(if  (liscovcrv  and  exploration  of  the  western  coast  of  Africa. 
lie  was  an  ambitious  stud(Mit  of  gc(igra]>hy,  liistory,  mathcmat- 
ies,  astron(^my,  and  navigation,  and  for  almost  forty  years  had 
stood  alone. 

At  the  early   age  of  fifteen   the   Prince    had   a  sueccj-sful 
lirnsh  with  the  Moors  at  Centa,  opposite  (libraltar ;  and  by  1418 
had  crc))!  down  the  coast  of  Africa  to  Cape  Nnn,  hit,  28"  40', 
the  sonthern  boundary  of  Morocco.     In  1484  his  captains  doub- 
led Cape  Hoyador,  and  seven  years  after  obtained  from  Pope 
Martin  V  a  grant  to  thi!  crown  of  I'ortugal  of  all  he  should  (lis- 
(;ov(!r  from  this  ca'  e  to  the  Indies.     In  1412  Kio  del  Oro  was 
reached,  and  gold  i.nd  negro  slaves  brought  back.     These  were 
two  real  stimulants  to  Portuguese  discovery,  avarice,  pride,  and 
wealth,  though  the  conversion  of  the  infidels  to  Christianity, 
was,  no  doubt,  a  strong  a(Miti()nal  motive  power.     The  rcintro- 
duction  of  negro  slavery,  and  the  part  it  soon  ]»layed  in  com- 
raerce  and  the  world's  progress,  may  be  ascribed  to  Prince  Hen- 
ry.    He  encouraged  the  traffic,  which,  with  the  love  of  gold 
and  the  hatred  of  the  Moors,  aroused  his  countrymen  to  his  pro- 
jects, and  insured  the  prom(^tion  of  discovery,  in  so  much  that 
by  the  time  of  the  fall  of  Constantinople,  his  captains  had 
reached  Cape  Verde,  lat.  14°  45'  N.,  probably  a  few  degrees  be- 
yond, and  had  exploded  the  old  theory  of  a  boiling  belt  about 
the  equator. 

In  all  ages  there  had  been  a  prevailing  notion  that  one  might 
sail  round  Africa ;  but  when  once  it  was  demonstrated  that  Por- 
tuguese sailors  could  cross  the  equator  and  survive.  Prince 
Henry's  vague  idea  of  reaching  the  land  of  spices  by  this  route 
was  confirmed.  At  all  events,  he  was  schooling  hardy  sailors, 
and  training  them  for  bolder  work,  so  that  soon  after  the  date 
of  the  fall  of  Constantinople,  Italy  and  Portugal  had  reached  that 
turn  for  adventure  and  enterprise,  which  spread  like  wildfire 
throughout  the  other  states  of  Europe,  and  caused  the  entira 
revolution  in  the  commerce  of  the  world. 

In  1453,  Columbus  was  a  lad  of  six  years  at  Genoa,  Vespucci 
of  two  at  Florence  and  John  Cnbot  a  youth  at  Genoa  (?)  The 
new  learning  at  once  took  deep  root.  When  these  three  Italian 
boys  became  men,  behold  how  changed  !   The  sciences  of  mathc- 


24 


!| 


raatics,  astronomy,  and  navigation  had  grown  with  their  growth, 
and  developed  with  marvelous  rapidity.  The  press  had  spread 
broadcast  tlic  learning  of  the  ancients.  The  secrets  of  the  earth 
were  inquired  into  and  revealed.  Many  islands  of  the  Atlantic 
had  been  discovered  and  described,  and  sailors  knew  the  coasts 
of  Europe  and  Africa  from  Iceland  to  Cape  Verde.  But  above 
all,  the  knowledge  of  the  sphericity  of  our  earth  was  no  longer 
confined  to  philosophers.  Alexander  had  told  Aristotle  what 
he  knew  of  the  East,  and  Aristotle  had  written  down  that  there 
was  but  a  small  space  of  sea  between  Spain  and  the  eastern 
coast  of  Asia.  Strabo  had  said  that  nothing  stood  in  the  w^ay 
of  a  westerly  passage  from  Spain  to  India  but  the  great  l)i-eadth 
of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  ;  but  Seneca  said  this  sea  might  be  passed 
in  a  few  days  with  favorable  winds.  Pomponius  Mela  and 
Macrobius  put  in  like  testimony,  with  certain  difficulties  about 
passing  burning  zones,  and  the  earth  being  shaped  like  an  egg 
floating  in  water.  All  these  opinions  were  rehashed  and  di- 
gested by  Ptolemy  of  Alexandria,  in  the  second  century,  who 
first  properly  reduced  the  globe  into  360  degrees  of  latitude  and 
longitude.  In  latitude  he  was  as  correct  as  he  was  incorrect  in 
his  longitude.  Roger  Bacon,  an  Englishman,  again  summar- 
ized these  theories  in  his  Opus  Majus,  in  the  tliirteenth  century  ; 
and  in  the  fifteenth  century,  Pierre  d'Ailly,  a  Frenchman,  re- 
viewed the  whole  question,  bringing  together  the  opinions  of 
the  ancient  writers  named,  as  well  as  the  fathers  of  the  church, 
including  modern  philosophers,  travelers,  and  theologians,  es- 
pecially Roger  Bacon,  Marco  Polo,  and  Gerson,  and  gave  to  the 
world  his  well-known  Imago  Mundi.  This  celebrated  work,  fin- 
ished in  1410,  was  afterward  the  guide,  companion  and  friend 
of  Columbus.  The  learned  author  was  for  three  years  Provost 
of  the  ancient  Ecclesiastical  College  of  St  Die  in  Lorraine,  away 
up  in  the  Vosges  Mountains,  in  the  remotest  corner  of  France. 
This  was  on  the  very  spot  where,  nearly  a  century  later,  in  the 
Gymnasium  withiii  the  same  precincts,  a  confraternity  of  some 
half  dozen  earnest  students,  lovers  of  geography,  of  whom  the 
poet  Mathias  Ringman  was  the  soul,  in  a  little  work  called  Cos- 
mographice  Introductio,  printed  there  in  the  kalends  of  May,  1507, 
suggested  that  the  Mtmdus  Nbvics  of  Vespucci  should  be  named 
America,  after  a  man,  inasmuch  as  Europe  and  Asia  had  been 


t 


til  their  growth, 
rcss  had  spread 
•ets  of  the  earth 
of  the  Atlantic 
cncw  the  coasts 
ie.  But  above 
1  was  no  longer 
Aristotle  what 
lown  that  there 
nd  the  eastern 
;ood  in  the  way 
e  great  breadth 
night  be  passed 
nius  Mela  and 
ifficulties  about 
)cd  like  an  egg 
lashed  and  di- 
d  century,  who 
of  latitude  and 
ras  incorrect  in 
again  summar- 
eenth  century ; 
Frenchman,  ra- 
the opinions  of 
of  the  church, 
theologians,  es- 
md  gav^e  to  the 
rated  work,  fin- 
ion  and  friend 
3  years  Provost 
Lorraine,  away 
mer  of  France, 
ry  later,  in  the 
iernity  of  some 
r,  of  whom  the 
ork  called  Cos- 
Is  of  May,  1507, 
ould  be  named 
Asia  had  been 


25 

named  after  women.  Thus  a  little  mountain  town  of  France 
first  gave  aid  and  comfort  to  Columbus  and  afterwards  a  name 
to  the  New  World. 

As  early  as  1474:,  Paul  Toscanelli,  a  learned  physician  of  Flor- 
ence, sent  to  Columbus  a  Chart  made  after  the  narrative  of  Mar- 
co Polo,  and  was  in  correspondence  with  him  on  these  very 
subjects,  showing  that  even  then  the  plans  of  Columbus  were 
maturing.  In  1478,  the  gi-eat  geographical  work  of  Ptolemy, 
with  the  twenty-seven  beautiful  copper  plate  maps,  was  printed 
at  Rome,  and  about  the  same  time  many  other  of  the  ancient 
historians,  poets,  philosophers,  mathematicians,  and  astronomers 
saw  the  light.  The  Imago  Mundi  was  printed  at  Louvain,  in 
1483,  and  there  still  exists  at  Seville,  Columbus'  own  copy,  with 
manuscript  notes  said  to  be  his,  discovered  and  described  about 
forty  years  ago  by  our  countryman,  Washington  Irving. 

Meanwhile,  the  work  of  discovery  and  exploration  was  ear- 
nestly pursued  by  the  Portuguese.     In  1454  Prince  Henry  se- 
cured the  services  of  Cadamosto,  an  intelligent  Venetian,  well 
acquainted  with  the  trade  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the  East, 
and  sent  him  down  the  coast  of  Africa,  where  he  reduced  the 
explorations  and  the  trade  to  order,  and  pushed  southward  the 
discoveries  to  the  Cape  Verde  Islands  by  1460,  the  year  of  Hen- 
ry's death.     By  1462  Pedro  de  Cintra  had  crept  down  the  coast 
to  some  300  miles  beyond  Sierra  Leone.     In  1463  Gibraltar 
was  captured  by  Spain  from  the  Moora.     Kings  Alphonso  and 
John  continued  the  African  discoveries  with  so  much  energy 
that,  after  Diogo  Cam's  passing  Congo  in  1484,  the  bold  captain, 
Bartholomew  Dias,  reached  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  looked 
beyond  it  in  1487,  thus  completing  with  marvelous  perseverance 
an  exploration  of  some  six  thousand  miles  of  coast  line  in  sev- 
enty years.    Bartholomew  Columbus  was  in  this  last  expedition. 
Meanwhile  King  John  had  sent  overland  through  Egypt  Pe- 
dro de  Covilham,  to  India  and  Eastern  Africa  to  gain  informa- 
tion and  report.     In  1487  he  reported  that  he  had  visited  Ormuz, 
Goa,  Calicut,  etc.,  and  had  seen  pepper  and  ginger,  and  heard 
of  cloves  and  cinnamon.     He  visited  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa, 
went  down  as  far  as  Sofala,  and  returning  northward,  sent  a 
message  to  King  John  that  he  had  learned  for  certain  that  if 
Dias  should  pursue  hia  course  round  Africa  he  would  reach 


i: 


ia 


26 


India  over  the  Eastern  Oeean  via  Sofala.  This  theoretical  dis- 
covery of  Coviliiaui  exactly  coincided  with  the  practical  one  oi 
Dias. 

All  these  events  were  but  leading  up  to  the  grandest  discovery 
the  world  ever  knew,  but  it  is  difficult  to  trace  the  precise  origin 
and  the  gradual  development  of  the  plans  of  Columbia  We 
know,  however,  that  at  the  early  age  of  fourteen  he  went  to  sea, 
educated  with  small  knowledge  of  Latin  and  less  Greek ;  and 
in  liT-t,  at  the  age  of  twenty -seven,  was  in  correspondence  with 
Tnaciinolli,  and  became  the  lather  of  Diego,  the  boy  for  whom, 
some  ten  years  later,  he  begged  a  night's  lodging  u.t  the  Convent 
of  La  Kabida. 

By  the  year  1487,  when  the  mystery  of  a  path  to  Lidia 
around  Africa  was  solved,  Columbus  had  not  only  completely 
worked  out  his  great  idea  of  sailing  AVest  to  find  the  East ;  but 
had  offered  his  services  in  can-ying  it  out,  first  to  his  native  city, 
Genoa,  without  success,  and  had  two  years  before  brought  it 
to  Spain  from  Portugal  where  his  proposals  had  been  openly 
spurned  and  ridiculed,  but  treacherously  though  unsuccessfully 
tested.  It  is  tolerably  certain  that  much  of  his  time  had  been 
spent  in  active  and  practical  maritime  service,  for  he  had  been 
down  the  coast  of  Africa  as  far  as  El  Mina ;  had  resided  at 
Porto  Santo,  one  of  the  out-lying  Portuguese  islands  of  the  At- 
lantic, the  daugliter  of  whose  first  governor  had  become  his  wife ; 
had  visited  England  and  Iceland,  and  was  acquainted  with  the 
whole  of  the  Mediterranean.  His  brotlier  Bartholemew  had 
been  a  chart-maker  at  Lisbon,  and  was  his  advocate  at  the  court 
of  Henry  VII. 

We  know  from  the  writings  of  his  son  Ferdinand  that  Colum- 
bus was  both  a  practical  and  a  learned  mathematican  as  well  as 
navigator.  He  had  read  probably  all  the  compilations  named 
above,  and  his  own  experience,  together  with  what  he  had  learned 
from  the  Portuguese,  had  enabled  him,  with  his  Marco  Polo  in 
his  pocket,  to  sift  all  the  vague  and  contradictory  notions  of  the 
ancients  as  to  the  Antipodes  and  the  shape  of  our  earth,  as  well 
as  to  cypher  out  a  theory  of  his  own.  For  seven  long  years, 
after  being  worn  out  and  disgusted  elsewhere,  he  danced  attend- 
ance on  the  Spanish  court,  with  no  fortune  but  his  idea ;  some- 
times threadbare  and  barefooted,  ever  pressing  his  suit,  never 


l! 


s  theoretical  dis- 
I  practical  one  ol 

andest  discovery 
be  precise  origin 
Columbi's.  We 
1  he  went  to  sea, 
less  Greek ;  and 
Bspondence  with 
3  boy  for  whom, 
5  at.  the  Convent 

I  path  to  India 
only  completely 
d  the  East ;  but 
)  his  native  city, 
jforc  brought  it 
ad  been  openly 
1  unsuccessfully 
s  time  had  been 
for  he  had  been 
had  resided  at 
lands  of  the  At- 
Decome  his  wife ; 
tainted  with  the 
irtholemew  had 
!ate  at  the  court 

and  that  Colum- 
itican  as  well  as 
dilations  named 
,t  he  had  learned 
3  Marco  Polo  in 
y  notions  of  the 
ir  earth,  as  well 
ren  long  years, 

danced  attend- 
his  idea ;  some- 

his  suit,  never 


27 

flagging  in  his  confidence,  questioned  and  ridiculed  by  com- 
missions of  geographers  and  scientific  men,  without  ever  being 
able  to  penetrate  the  conservative  ignorance  of  the  learned  and 
courtly,  or,  us  he  comphiined,  to  convince  any  one  man  how  it 
was  possible  to  sail  west  to  reach  the  East  But  Time  was 
working  for  him  then,  as  it  is  now  for  Interoceanic  Communi- 
cation. 

IHie  fortieth  year  from  the  fall  of  Constantinople,  the  forty- 
fifth  of  the  age  of  Columbus,  witnessed  the  death  of  Lorenzo 
de  Medici ;  but  other  suns  were  rising.  Copernicus,  in  the  far 
north,  was  in  his  twentieth  year ;  Erasmus,  his  twenty -fifth ; 
Cortez,  his  seventh  ;  and  Luther,  his  tenth.  Martin  Behaim,  the 
old  geographer  of  the  Azores,  aged  sixty-two,  was  home  on  a 
visit  to  his  native  city  of  Nuremberg,  from  which  the  tide  of 
commerce  was  ebbing.  Here,  in  1492,  he  made  his  famous  globe 
of  the  whole  world,  as  if  to  lay  down  upon  it  all  the  knowledge 
(and  all  the  ignorance)  of  the  geography  of  the  earth,  prepara- 
tory to  the  opening  of  new  books.  The  same  eventful  year 
witnessed  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors  from  Spain,  the  opening 
of  the  Mediterranean,  and  the  discovery  of  America.  Moham- 
edanism  received  its  first  check,  and  Christendom  received  a 
New  World. 

These  three  Italian  boys  had  become  men.  When  Columbus 
had  balanced  his  egg  for  Spain,  it  was  easy  for  Vespucci  and 
the  Cabots  to  do  it  for  Portugal  and  England.  Italy,  whose 
noble  sons  did  this  in  foreign  service,  never  acquired  a  foot  of 
the  newly  discovered  lands  for  herself,  yet  how  much  of  the 
honor  was  and  still  is  hers. 

In  1493,  within  three  months  from  the  return  of  Columbus, 
Alexander  VI,  a  Spaniard,  a  Pope  of  not  a  year's  standing, 
wishing  to  reward  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  for  their  struggles 
in  expelling  the  Moors,  divided  our  globe  into  two  parts,  by  a 
line  of  demarcation  passing  from  pole  to  pole,  one  hundred 
leagues  west  of  the  Azores  and  Cape  Verde  islands,  giving  to 
Spain  all  she  should  discover  within  180"  to  the  west  of  it, 
leaving  to  Portugal  all  her  African  discoveries  and  the  Indies 
for  180"  east  of  it. 

But  poor  Portugal,  that  had  been  struggling  seventy  yeai-s 
in  the  dark  in  her  circuitous  route  to  India  round  Africa,  jeal- 


.1 


; . 


28 


ous  of  the  new  short  cut  of  Columbus,  wliich  had  l)eeu  oll'ercd 
to  her  and  refused,  protested  ag.unst  the  position  of  this  merid- 
ian. It  was  finally  settled  in  the  treaty  of  Tordesillas,  of  June. 
1494,  with  the  Po])e's  approval,  that  the  line  should  staml  at 
three  hundred  and  seventy  leagues  west  of  the  Azores.  Had 
the  King  of  Portugal's  geographers  and  pilots  advised  him  to 
contend  for  a  line  farther  east  instead  of  farther  west,  he  would 
have  rcecived  witliin  his  half  the  Moluccas  and  the  oiiior  Spice- 
ries.  As  some  compensation  I'or  this  geograjthical  blunder,  hov;- 
ever,  he  secured  a  foothold  in  Brazil.  Both  nations  were  now 
running  a  race  of  discovery  ol  India  by  divers  routes.  By  Indiii 
is  here  meant  all  the  East  beyon<l  the  Ganges,  including  China. 
Cathay,  Mangi,  Japan,  and  the  Spice  Islands.  The  actpiisitiou;^ 
of  the  S]ianiards  were  named  the  West  Indies,  vhile  those  oi 
the  Portugese  were  called  the  East  Indies. 

Never  was  great  discovery  more  modestly  announced.  "^1 
Letter  of  Cliristuj)her  Colidiilnis,  to  whom  our  wje  is  much  indebted, 
resjjeciin;f  the  Islands  of  India  beyond  the  Oamjes  lately  discov- 
ered," dated  February,  1493.  Cokanbus  thought  his  success 
complete.  lie  aimed  at  Zipangu,  or  Japan,  and  to  his  dying 
day  in  1506,  believed  that  he  had  found  it  nearly  where  his  cal- 
culations had  phiced  it,  but  never  was  num  more  mistaken,  and 
never  did  mistake  produce  greater  results.  Believing  our  earth 
to  be  a  globe,  Columbus  reasoned  correctly  that  by  sailing  west 
he  would  come  to  the  East  of  Marco  Polo,  l)ut  ii-om  want  of 
knowledge  ol'  longitude,  he,  like  eveiybody  else,  from  Ptolemy 
down,  was  vastly  deceived  as  to  the  size  of  the  globe.  From 
Cadiz  to  the  Ganges  the  distance  had  been  comi)Uted  from  the 
days  of  Alexaiuler  at  about  180°,  or  half  round  the  globe. 
From  the  Ganges  to  the  Corea  and  Cathay,  and  thence  to 
Zipangu  fifteen  hundred  miles  more,  the  distance  was  also 
exaggerated  by  Marco  Polo.  So  that,  still  going  east,  the  dis- 
tance from  Zipangu  to  Cadiz  was  calculated  to  be  about  equal 
to  the  space  from  Palos  to  Saint  Domingo.  Upon  this  error  in 
longitude  hung  no  doubt  the  problem  of  circumnavigating  the 
globe,  for  had  Columbus  suspected  the  real  distance  to  Japan 
i)y  the  west,  he  would  never  probably  have  ventured  to  pene- 
trate the  "sea  of  darkness,"  or  have  found  sailors  bold  enough 
to  accompany  him.     The  actual  distance  from  San  Francisco  to 


H. 


29 


ad  been  ottered 
n  of  this  merid- 
esillas,  of  June, 
should  staml  at 
i  Azores.  Had 
advised  liim  to 
west,  lie  would 
the  t)ther  Spiee- 
al  blunder,  hov;- 
iitions  were  now 
utes.  By  India 
iicbiding  China. 
Yho  awjuisitioui- 
,  vdiile  those  ol 

nnouuced.  "^1 
is  much  indebted, 
fes  lately  discov- 
ght  his  success 
nd  to  his  dying 
ly  where  his  cal- 
•e  mistaken,  and 
ieving  our  earth 
t  by  sailing  west 
it  I'roni  want  ol 
c,  from  Ptolemy 
le  globe.  From 
n}nite<l  from  the 
)uud  the  globe, 
and  thence  to 
stance  was  also 
ng  east,  the  dis- 
I  be  about  equal 
pon  this  error  in 
mnavigatingthe 
i  stance  to  Japan 
jntured  to  pene- 
ors  bold  enough 
3an  Francisco  to 


Hong  Kong  is  nearly  one-third  nuire  than  Columbus  had  reck- 
oned it  from  Sjwin  to  Japan. 

The  sensation  produced  throughout  Europe  by  this  discov- 
erv  of  a  short  and  direct  route  to  India  was  great,  but  for 
iit.irly  ibity  years  nobody  suspected  the  truth.  The  simple 
letter  of  Colu*ml)Us  in  various  editions,  in  prose  and  vense,  was 
about  all  that  was  published  ior  ton  years,  but  the  intelligence 
aave  a  new  impulse  to  maritime  discovery  and  commercial 
enten)rise.  Colund)us,  with  full  honors,  sailed  in  U93,  with  a 
well  ecjuipped  tleet  to  e.x-plore  his  Eastern  Archipelago.  He 
returned  to  Spain  in  June,  l-iiKJ.  .luau  de  1a  Cosa,  author  of 
the  world-renowned  portolanoof  loOO,  went  with  him  as  Master 
of  Charts  in  this  second  voyage.  They  proceeded  directly  to 
Dominica,  one  of  the  Windward  Islands,  thence  to  Porto  Rico, 
.St.  Domingo,  south  side  of  Cuba,  .hanaica,  dsc. 

The  Portuguese  now  redoubled  their  energies,  and  in  1497-98, 
Vaseo  da  Gama,  just  ten  vears  after  Dias'  discovery  of  the  Cape, 
circumnavigated  Africa  and  reached  Calicut.  The  same  year 
John  Cobot  under  a  Patent  of  Henry  VII,  dated  March  5, 
1496,  in  trying  for  a  short  cut  to  Cathay  by  the  northwest,  dis- 
covered certain  islands,  probably  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
and  took  possessicm,  supposing  them  to  be  off  China,  and 
erected  conjointly  the  flags  of  England  and  Venice,  on  the  24th 

of  June,  1497. 

The  ne.xt  year  Sebastian  Cal)Ot,  under  a  supplemental  license 
dated  Februarv  3,  1498,  sailed  again  with  the  view  of  plant- 
ing a  colony  and  promoting  ti-ade,  but  no  contemporary  ac- 
count of  the  voyage  being  known,  it  is  difficult  to  extract  any 
reliable  information  of  this  failure  from  the  confused  gossij)ing 
reports  that  have  come  down  to  us.     The  discoveries  of  1497 
were  in  1498  reported  to  the  kings  of  Spain  by  their  vigilant 
ambassador  in  Lond(jn,   with  the  intimation  that  he  had  seen 
John  Cal)ot\s  chart,  and  would  send  home  a  copy  of  it.     What 
steps  followed  it  is  difficult  now  to  trace,  but  the  result  appears 
to  be  that  Henry  VII,  nevei-  following  up  the  <liscoverie^s  after 
1498.  Sebastain" Cabot  remained  quietly  at  home  till  after  the 
death    >r  Heui-y,  when  in  1512  he  took  service  under  the  king 
ol'  Spain,  permitting  liis  English  an<I  Venetian  rights  of  dis- 
,')verv  and  plantation  to  lapse.     Thus  ended  the  first  English 
and  Venetian  attempts  to  reach  Cathay  by  the  northwest. 


80 


Hi; 


On  the  80th  of  May,  1498,  in  liis  third  voyage,  Cohimbua 
first  touched  tlie  continent  of  Aniericji  in  Venezuela,  though 
some  contend  tliat  Vespucci  had  anticipated  him  by  nearly  one 
year.  The  natives  called  it  Paria,  and  Columbus  reasoned  him- 
self into  the  l)elief  that  it  was  Paradise,  whence  our  first  })arents 
had  been  driven.  In  1499,  Vicente  Yailcz  Pinzon  and  Alonzo 
de  Ojeda,  private  traders,  with  the  latter  of  whom  was  Vespucci 
on  his  second  voyage,  visited  Brazil  under  Spanish  flags;  and 
in  1600  Brazil  was  discovered  accidentally  (?)  by  Cabral,  in 
that  great  fleet  which  the  success  of  Gama  had  called  forth. 
He  was  blown  out  of  his  course  on  his  way  to  India,  and  took 
possession  for  the  Portuguese.  Portugal  thus  gained  undis- 
puted possession  of  Eastern  Brazil  by  rule  of  ignorance  of 
longitude,  claiming  it  as  hers  because  it  was  east  of  the  line  of 
demarcation.  All  the  science  of  Spain  at  that  time  could  not 
disprove  this,  and  therefore  Pinzon  abandoned  it  to  the  Portu- 
guese. 

The  same  year  the  Portuguese  hearing  of  the  voyages  of 
the  Cabots,  and  probably  suspecting  irreverence  in  tlie  Eng- 
lish for  Papal  bull  lines  of  demarcation,  sent  Gaspar  Corte- 
real  to  follow  '  their  track,  who  returned  in  tlie  fall  of  1500. 
Between  May  15  and  the  8th  of  October,  1501,  a  second  voyage 
with  two  ships  was  made  by  Gaspar  Cortereal,  and  laborers 
(slaves)  brought  back  to  Lisbon,  but  Gaspar  .himself  never 
returned.  A  third  voyage  was  undertaken  by  Miguel  Cortereal 
from  Lisbon  to  the  northwest  the  10th  of  May,  1502,  in  search 
of  his  brother,  but  no  tidings  ever  came  back.  Then  the  king 
dispatched  two  more  vessels  to  cruise  in  search  of  the  missing 
ones,  but  they  returned  without  any  trace  of  the  lost  brothers, 
and  thus  ended  the  Portuguese  attempts  to  roach  Cathay  by 
the  northwest 

In  1501  New  Granada,  Darien,  and  Panama  were  taken  pos- 
session of  for  the  Spanish  ])y  Bastides,  and  in  1501-2  Vespucci 
explored  the  coast  of  Brazil  for  the  Portuguese,  it  is  said,  as  far 
as  60'  S.  lat,  within  two  or  three  degrees  of  the  strait,  and  hi 
1502  there  was  written  an  account  of  his  expedition,  wiiich  was 
soon  after  printed,  under  the  title  of  Mundus  Novtis.  The 
years  1502  to  1504  were  occupied  by  Columbus  in  his  fourth 
and  last  voyage,  in  which  he  was  accompanied  by  his  brother 


ff 


t,.^ 


81 


yage,  Columbus 
mezuela,  tliough 
111  by  nearly  one 
lus  reasoned  liim- 

our  first  parents 
izon  and  Alonzo 
>m  was  Vespucci 
lanisli  flags;  and 
')  by  Cabral,  in 
lad  called  forth. 
»  India,  and  took 
IS  gained   undis- 

of  ignorance  of 
ast  of  the  line  of 
.  time  could   not 

it  to  the  Portu- 

the  voyages  of 
nee  in  the  Eng- 
it  Gaspar  Corte- 
tlie  fall  of  1500. 
a  second  voyage 
al,  and  laborers 
ir  .himself  never 
Miguel  Cortereal 
,  1502,  in  search 
Then  the  king 
h  of  the  missing 
he  lost  brothers, 
oach  Cathay  by 

were  taken  pos- 
1501-2  Vespucci 
;,  it  is  said,  as  far 
.he  strait,  and  in 
lition,  which  was 
Its  Novtis.  Tlie 
lus  in  his  fourth 
i  by  his  brother 


Bartholomew,  and  his  son  Fcrdinando  who  afterwards  wrote  a 
life  of  his  lather.  He  explored  the  coasts  of  Central  America 
from  Truxillo  in  Honduras  to  Darien,  still  k)ol<ing  ibr  the 
Ganges  and  inquiring  for  the  home  of  the  Grand  Kahn.  An 
account  of  this  voyage,  coming  down  to  July  7,  1503,  was 
printed  at  Venice  in  1505. 

In  1502  Valeutim  Fernandez,  a  Gei-man,  attached  to  the 
household  of  the  ex-queen  of  Portugal,  edited  and  printed  at 
Lisbon  a  collection  of  voyages  in  the  Portuguese  language, 
comprising  Marco  Polo,  Nicolo  Conti,  Santo  Stephauo,  &c., 
with  a  view  of  stirring  up  tlie  people  to  a  more  lively  interest 
in  the  commerce  and  navigation  of  the  Indies.  The  success  of 
Columbus  and  the  Cabots  is  referred  to,  and  the  speedy  return 
of  Cortereal  from  the  north,  from  his  second  voyage,  is  expected. 
This  magnificent  folio  volume,  the  first  important  book  (not 
biblical)  printed  in  Portugal,  must  have  had  a  powerful  effect 
in  drawing  popular  attention  to  the  land  of  spices.  It  was  the 
first  collection  of  voyages  printed  in  the  vernacular  tongue,  and 
could  be  read  by  all  the  unlearned  who  had  a  penny  to  venture. 
It  was  translated  into  Spanish,  and  printed  at  Seville  in  1503. 
No  rarer  books  are  now  known  to  geographers.  In  May,  1507, 
the  four  voyages  of  Vespucci  were  published  for  the  first  time 
together,  in  Latin,  at  St  Die,  in  France,  as  before  stated,  as  an 
appendage  to  a  little  work  on  cosmography,  a  science  which 
now  began  to  assume  new  and  startling  importance. 

On  the  third  of  November,  the  same  year,  there  was  pub- 
lished in  Italian,  at  Viceuza,  a  most  important  collection  of 
voyages  under  the  title.  Countries  newly  discovered,  and  the  New 
World  of  AWericns  Vespucci,  containing  accounts  of  the  voy- 
ages of  Cadamosto  to  Cape  Verde,  in  1454-5 ;  of  de  Cintra  to 
Senegal,  in  1462 ;  of  Vasco  da  Garaa,  in  1497-1500 ;  of  Cabral, 
in  1500-1 ;  of  Columbus  (three  voyages)  1492-1498 ;  of  Alonzo 
Negro  and  the  Pinzons ;  of  Vespucci  (four  voyages) ;  of  Cor- 
tereal, &c.  This  work  was  the  next  year,  1508,  printed  in  Latin 
and  German. 

All  these  new  geographical  works  hitherto  printed,  it  will  be 
perceived,  pointed  to  the  same  thing,  enlightenment  of  the 
public  as  to  India  beyond  the  Ganges,  and  how  to  go  and  trade 
thither.     In  1508,  for  the  first  time  in  print,  all  these  discov- 


82 

eriea  were  collected  nnd  laid  down  in  a  beautiful  coppor-plate 
map,  by  Johunn  Unysch,  a  Gcnnan  who  had  probably*  visited 
the  now  found  i,-!!;uiils  with  the  Cabots,  and  knew  well  what  he 
was  doin;^.  [t  appeal's  in  the  Ptolemy  of  1508,  published  at 
Rome,  aeeonipanied  by  A  new  Descn'pfion  of  the  World,  and  the 
nev)  Xavif/alion  of  tlie  Ocean  from  fjshon  to  India,  by  Marcus 
Benevcntaniis.  A  careful  study  of  this  map  nnd  its  descriptive 
text,  if  we  exclude  all  subsecpient  public  aiions,  and  look  at 
the  worl'l  as  seen  by  the  geogi-aphers  o!"  tliat  day,  will  greatly 
aid  us  ill  clearing  up  maiiy  api)arent  iin'onsistencies. 

linysch  lays  down  three  distinct  and  iiidcjicndent  fields  of 
discovery.  First,  the  Archipelago  of  Coluuibus  in  the  center, 
Idling  a  space  of  above  a  thousand  miles  from  north  to  south, 
and  open  to  India.  This  i)art  of  the  map  was  no  doubt  laid 
down  from  Colund)us'  own  letter,  the  only  authority,  in  1507, 
existing  in  jn-int.  lie  had,  indeed,  coasted  along  Paria  from 
Trinidad  westward,  in  June,  14:98,  as  Pin/.on,  Ojeda,  and  others 
did  subsequently,  supposing  it  to  be  anotlier  large  island,  or 
part  of  the  mainland  of  Cathay,  but  nothing  of  this  had  then 
lieen  printed.  Second,  the  Mundus  Aoi'iw  of  Vespucci,  being 
tlic  eastern  coast  of  South  America  from  Darien  to  Upper  Pat- 
agonia, one  vast  Island  with  an  unknown  background.  The 
autliority  for  this  was  what  has  since  been  called  Vespucci's 
"  Third  Letter,"  first  printed  at  the  end  of  1502,  or  probably 
early  in  1503.  And  tliird,  the  discoveries  of  the  Cabots  and 
the  Cortereals  in  the  north,  represented  by  them  as  part  of  tlie 
mainland  of  Asia.  This  portion  of  the  map  is  only  Marco 
Polo's  description  of  Cathay  extended  considerably  to  the 
northeast,  and  modified  by  the  experieiiee,  probably,  of  Ruysch 

*  Bcnoventanus  says  "Joanies  vero  Ruisch  (lermanns  Geo;j;raphonim  nieo 
judicio  peritissiraus,  nc  in  pinirendo  orbe  dili^jentissimis  cujiis  admiuiculo  in  liac 
l\icnbratiiinciila  usi  snmus,  dixit,  so  navigasso  ab  Albionis  ar.strali  imrto ;  ct  tamdiu 
quo  ad  suliparallolura  ab  8ub;t!C|iiatoro  ad  boreaiii  snb},'radiim,  53,  perveiiit ;  ct  in 
eo  parallt'lo  navi)i;asHij  aj  ortiia  littora  ))er  ans^iilum  noctis  atqiie  pliircs  insulas  lus- 
trasse,  q\ianim  iiiforius  dcsciiptionemassicnabimus."  AnQlia'':  But  John  Biiyscli, 
of  Germany,  in  my  judjrinent  a  most  exact  geograplicr,  aud  a  most  painstaliing 
one  in  delineating  the  globe,  to  whose  aid  in  this  little  work  I  am  indebted,  has 
told  me  that  ho  sailed  from  the  south  of  England,  and  ponetraied  as  far  as  tlio  53d 
degree  of  north  latitude  [straits  of  Belle  Islo],  and  on  that  i>arallel  he  sailed  west 
toward  the  shores  of  the  Kast  [Asia],  bearing  a  little  northward  [per  anglum  noctis] 
and  observed  many  islands,  the  description  of  which  I  have  given  below. 


>>»3a.li    »- 


"Ti 


'ul  coppor-plate 
obably*  visited 
w  M'c'II  wliat  he 
i,  publisliL'd  at 
World,  a)id  the 
dia,  by  Marcus 
1  its  dc'sorij)tivc 
s,  and  loolc  at 
ay,  will  greatly 
leies. 

^ndent  field.-!  of 
H  in  the  center, 
north  to  soutli, 
■i  no  doubt  laid 
hority,  in  1507, 
>ng  Pai'ia  from 
cda,  and  others 
large  island,  or 
f  this  had  then 
Vespucci,  being 
1  to  Upper  Pat- 
kground.  The 
lied  Vespueci's 
)2,  or  probably 
;hc  Cabots  and 
1  as  part  of  tlie 
is  only  Marco 
lerably  to  the 
ibly,  of  Ruysch 

Seojrraphonim  nieo 

aclmiiiiculo  in  hac 
all  imrto ;  ct  tnindiu 

5;{,  pervetiit ;  ct  in 
(.'  pliirc'S  insulas  liiti- 
;  But  John  Ruysch, 
a  most  painstaking 

I  am  indebted,  has 
od  as  far  as  tlio  53d 
rallel  he  sailed  west 

[per  anglum  nocHs] 
ven  below. 


88 

himself,  and  the  information  he  gathered  I'roin  the  Bristol  men, 
when  ho  was  with  them  in  Ui»7-8  and  the  .ii.-^i'overies  of  the 
Cortereals.* 

Columbus  had  placed  his  discoveries  in  the  Indian  Arrhipel- 
ago  beyond  the  Ganges,  and  the  world  aecei>tr(l  the  names  he 
gave  to  the  separate  islands.  No  new  general  name  was  re.  (uired. 
The  discoveries  of  the  Cabots  and  the  Cortereals  being  also  in 

*  The  chart  of  Juau  do  la  Cosa,  representing  the  then  Iviiown  world  heariui<  the 
date  of  1500,  is  not  overlooked,  but  its  siirnilieanee,  mo  far  as  tiie  eoasl  line  of  tlie 
United  States  is  concerned,  has  been  so  manifestly  dif.torlcd  by  tvi'ry  one  who  lias 
described  it,  from  its  discovery  by  Humboldt  in  the  library  of  liarou  Walekcnaer, 
nearly  fortv  venrs  aRO,  down  to  the  present  day,  that  the  writer  hesitates  to  venture 
his  opinion.  "  But  by  lonR  study  and  comparison  of  this  witii  other  early  maps,  es- 
pecially with  those  of  Ruy.^ch  and  I'eter  Martyr  of  ir)l)«  and  1511,  he  is  convinced 
that  tho  coast  line,  from  the  most  westerly  of  the  five  i'ln^lisli  llag-stalls  niiirking 
the  extent  of  Cabot's  discoveries  southward  and  westward,  to  a  point  west  of  Cuba, 
precisely  like  tho  map  of  Ruysch  seven  or  oiKht  years  later,  is  laid  down  as  tlie 
northeastern  coast  of  Cathay,  from  tho  descriptions  of  Marco  Polo.  If  our  Maine 
friends,  therefore,  wiU  placo  behind  their  red  line  border,  Marco  Polo's  name  Maniji, 
thev  WiU  see  that  this  territory  is  farther  "down  East"  than  is  generally  supposed, 
being  indeed  eastern  Asia.  The  word  Cuba,  instead  of  Juana,  the  name  given  by 
Columbus,  and  the  fact  that  it  is  represented  as  an  island  have  been  strenuously 
objected  to  by  geographers,  but  both  the.se  objections  will  be  answered  in  another 
place.     [See  explanatory  preface.] 

La  Cosa  perished  in  Ojeda's  mad  expedition  in  Dec,  1509.  lie  was  a  clover  fel- 
low, and  a  great  favorite,  and  used  to  boast  that  ho  knew  more  of  the  geography 
of  the  new  lands  than  did  Columbus  himself.  Indeed,  of  all  others,  says  Peter 
Martyr  in  151+,  his  charts  were  tho  most  esteemed.  IIis  knowledge  and  experience 
were  great,  for  ho  had  been,  between  tho  years  U93  and  1500,  on  no  less  than  six 
exploring  expeditions,  either  as  Master  of  Charts  or  commander,  witl  Columbus, 
Ojeda,  Vespucci,  and  Baslidos,  and  had  visited  repeatedly  the  entire  co-.  ,  from  Paria 
to  Uriiba,  and  thenoc  on  his  own  account,  north  to  the  middle  of  Yucatan,  as  well  us 
most  of  the  islands  in  Cohunbus'  vast  Archipelago.  When  with  Bastides,  in  1501-2, 
he  found  that  tho  Portuguese  were  meddling  on  tho  wrong  sido  of  the  Ime  of  de- 
marcation, endeavoring,  probably,  to  fmd  a  shorter  route  to  Calicut  via  Darien,  and 
therefore,  on  his  return  to  Spain,  La  Cosa  was  sent  to  Lisbon  to  remonstrate  against 
this  enroaehment.  He  was  there  imprisoned  and  was  not  released  till  August,  1 504. 
Nothing  daunted,  tho  next  year,  1505-6,  he  wont  on  an  exploring  and  trading  ex- 
pedition of  his  own  to  Uraba  and  Panama,  and  on  another  similar  one  in  ]5l;7-8. 
On  the  11th  of  November,  1509,  he  embarked  with  Ojeda  from  IPwpauiola,  and  per- 
ished soon  after.  From  this  it  wiU  be  seen  that  he  might  bo  in  Spain  chart-making, 
from  .Tune  to  October,  1500;  from  September,  1502  to  1504,  autumn,  (except  when 
in  prison  in  Lisbon);  and  again  parts  of  the  years  1506-7,  as  well  as  parts  of 

1508-9. 

La  Cosa  had,  therefore,  ample  time,  if  necessary,  to  touch  up  his  groat  chart  oi 
the  worid,  mado  and  dated  in  1500,  but  a  careful  examination  of  tho  wliole  chart  will 


■  ')?■  '^i  M-i"-^-"  ' 


J; 


M 


the  Eiist,  woro  bo  recogtiizod  us  they  jjliiccd  thcin,  and  re(fiiii(>tl 
no  now  gciicnil  iiium',  l)iit  their  iiiuiics  of  particuhir  hx-iilities, 
sucli  iis  Ti-rra  Nuva  and  Bac-ahios,  were  adopted.  But  as  to  the 
New  World  described  by  Vesj)ue<'i,  the  case  is  ditlerent.  This 
hirge  country  was  undoubtedly  new,  and  jus  his  was  the  first  de- 
scription of  it  i)rinted,  his  friends  of  the  Vosj^es  Mountains, 
lovers  of  geograjjliy,  souglit  very  properly,  in  1007,  to  eoiii[)li- 
incut  him  by  f,'iving  it,  instead,  the  beautiful  narre  Amkkica. 

show  tliat  it  t;ivo8  no  iiilbnuation  later  tlian  its  (into.  Tlio  dato  ix  poaitivo,  and 
tliort"  iH  pnilialily  no  rouson  to  doubt  it.  Hut  im  liiM  own  diHcovorios  iind  oxplora- 
tiona  wost  of  .VIout  Sun  Kuft'uii.i  towardd  Uriliii,  Dariuii  and  I'linuiria  niiidu  from 
1801  to  1508  aro  not  laid  down,  Ih  it  not  probable  that  tho  chart  had  passod  out  of 
tho  malter'H  posstsnion,  mid  was  tli(iroforo  beyond  hi8  ruach  for  rotoiichiiijt?  There 
lire  many  other  points  for  diHwiHHiou,  but  as  the  writer  had  nover  had  under  IiIh  «yo 
ilie  original  chart,  but  judijcH  only  from  M.  .foniard's oxwlltMit  colored  fai,-»imHc  on 
three  double  olophant  folio  sheetH,  ho  fools  tluit  he  is  treading  on  ticklish  nfoiind. 
The  fac-siniiloH  (greatly  reduced  in  size)  given  by  Humboldt,  Ohillany,  Lelewel,  Kohl 
and  otherH,  are  in  many  rospocts  dofeclivo,  and  tend  to  mislead  the  student,  inasnmcli 
as  tlie  coloring,  and  tho  linos  of  latitude  and  longitude  are  left  out.  Homo  names  aro 
misplaced  iind  other.-*  are  mi!».spelle(l,  while  many  important  ones  are  omitted  alto- 
gether. (;i\ly  tho  western  sheet  or  third,  is  given  (except  by  Humboldt).  But  it 
sitould  not  be  forgotten  that  the  chart  is  intended  to  represent,  on  a  plain,  the  entire 
globe  as  far  as  known  in  1500. 

There  is  a  l>road  green  border  above  and  beyond  tlie  Ganges,  showing  that  the 
northeast  of  Asia  is  terra  incoynita.  The  same  green  also  covers  what  is  now  North 
and  South  America,  and  therefore  being  unknown  the  lines  and  ornaments  are  not 
to  be  mistaken  for  rivers  and  lakes.  But  I^a  Cosa  had  tho  same  authorities  up  to 
the  Polisaous  river  and  bay,  in  latitude  52°  north  that  Bohaini  had  for  his  globe 
made  in  U92.  irenco  tho  two  works  agree  remarkably  well,  but  La  Cosa,  taking 
advantage  of  the  seven  years  progress  in  geography,  has  attempted  to  complete 
Asia  by  laying  down  its  northeastern  coast  on  tho  other  side  of  the  globe,  from 
somewhere  about  Zaiton  in  the  (loroa,  to  and  some  thirty  degrees  eastward,  be- 
yond tho  Polisacus  river  and  bay,  through  the  kingdoms  of  Gog  and  Magog,  and 
thence  by  a  dream  line  connecting  Asia  with  the  discoveries  of  tho  Cabots  and  the 
Corterealfi.  The  Polisanchiu  river  of  Fra  Mauro  in  1457  is  tho  Polisacus  of  Ruysch 
and  tho  Ptolemies  of  1511,  1513,  15.35,  and  1540.  These  and  the  Posacus  of 
Schoner,  the  Pului.sangu  of  Ortelius,  and  Pulisangu  in  later  maps,  are  probably 
the  Amoor  river  of  our  day.  At  all  events,  the  river  and  bay  are  in  eastern  Asia, 
are  about  50°  to  52°  north  latitude,  and  tlierefore,  America  on  La  Cosa's  chart  can- 
not extend  further  wost  than  the  left  HagstafT,  the  meridian  of  Porto  Rico.  The 
tliroe  rivers  on  tho  three  reduced  fac-similes  are  not  in  tlie  origmal  map  of  La 
Cosa.  and  on  Dr.  Kohl's  fac-simile  tho  important  words.  Mar  descubierta  por  Tng- 
leses,  aro  placed  too  low  down  and  half  an  inch  too  far  west,  thus  co-veymg  the 
idea  that  tho  English  had  discovered  Mangi. 

In  short.  La  Cosa's  coast  Uno,  from  Cuba  to  the  flrsi  flagsUff,  was  mtended  for 
Asia,  and  to  this  day  answers  better  for  Asia  than  America.    The  student,  there- 


.»..  I>l  ll>JI«ll 


— -r, 


!in,  and  re(iiiin>il 
iculiir  locjilitic's, 
.  But  iis  to  the 
(lillbront.  This 
waH  the  first  de- 
S}j;o.s  Mountains, 
ir>07,  to  (*()iii[)li- 
narro  Amkuica. 

dat«  ifl  positive,  and 
:ovprios  iind  oxplora- 

I'lmaiiia  niiidu  from 
irt  hud  paHHi'd  out  of 
rrotoiichiiiK?  There 
.•cr  had  under  liiw  eye 

colored  fuu-wimile  on 
?  on  ticiillsh  ground, 
liliany,  Lelowel,  Kohl 
.he  student,  inaHinuch 
lUt.  Some  nanies  aro 
uos  are  omitted  alto- 
<f  Humboldt).  But  it 
on  a  plain,  the  entire 

68,  showing  that  the 
rs  what  is  now  North 
id  ornaments  are  not 
uno  authorities  up  to 
iui  had  for  his  (;lobe 

but  La  Coaa,  taking 
tempted  to  complete 
le  of  the  globe,  from 
egroes  eastward,  be- 
jog  and  Magog,  and 
f  the  Cabots  and  the 

Polisacus  of  Ruysch 
and  the  Posacus  of 

maps,  are  probably 
'  are  in  eastern  Asia, 
La  Cosa's  chart  cau- 
of  Porto  Rico.  The 
»  original  map  of  La 
descubierta  por  Tng- 

thus  co'.:veying  the 

»ff,  was  intended  for 
The  student,  there- 


86 

Thi.-<  wax  (lono  without  the  knowloil<,'o  of  Ve3i»ucrn,  ami  was 
never  intcnihid  to  intcrforii  with  tlu;  just  ri^'hts  ami  chiiins  of 
ColutnhiiH.  The  triitli  is,  there  was  tlien  no  otlier  hook  in  print 
(lesc,ril)ing  Brazil  but  Vespueei'a  very  simple  and  interesting'  let- 
ter, written  (but  in  what  lanj^uagc  it  is  doubtful)  probably  im- 
mediately after  his  return  in  September,  loO'i.  lie  fj,iive  the 
eountrv  he  (h'S(M-ibed  no  name,  but  the  translator  into  Latin  en- 
tled  his  little  Iraet  Mnndun  Xavits.  But  tiuK!  wore  on,  and  the 
laistakos  of  the  geographers,  ius  well  as  those  of  Columbus  and 
Vespueci,  are  made  apjiareiit.* 

In  i5(>5-()  northwestern  Ilcmduras  and  Yucatan  wore  so(mi  by 
.Sol is  and  Piiizon,  and  in  loOS  Juana  (heiieeibrth  called  Cuba) 
was  circumnavigated  by  Oeampo,  thus  disi)elling  tiie  doubt  about 

fore,  who  is  not  clear  on  these  points  is  liable  to  got  the  Polisaium  (somotimoB 
spelled  PlimwMiH)  Hay,  the  Gulf  of  Maine,  Itio  Goiruv.,  Oaihay,  Meini>hraiuag()g, 
Gog  and  Magoj,',  Quinsay,  Capo  Cod,  Zaitoii,  Zipungu,  Cajies  llace  and  Ilonlopen, 
Mangi,   Carolina,   Cinrabu,  Floriila.  (^liicora,  Cuba,  etc.,  into  a  beautiful  muddle. 
This  ifl  no  o.xnggoration.     ThiH  utti'r  confu!»ion  has  been  made  by  compilers  and  am- 
ateur geographers  from  the  limes  of  Hylaconiilus,  A])ianii8,  Sahoiier,  Laurom'e  Fries, 
OrontiuH  Fine,  and  Muenst«r,  to  the  prosieut  day,  and  no  doubt  will  coutiuuo  so  un- 
til geographers  look  more  carefully  into  the  chronology  and  bibliograi)hy  of  their 
subjects.    With  these  explanations  this  map  is  perfectly  intelligible,  and  is  recon- 
cilable with  other  goo<l  maps  miulo  since  the  discovery  of  the  Pacitlc  in  1.513,  wlien 
America  flrsl  began  to  stand  alone  in  geography  independent  of  Asia.     The  ques- 
tion next  to  be  asked  is,  how  far  west  and  south  did  .^ebastion  Cabot  go  in  1497-8  ? 
According  to  La  (Josa  and  Ruysch,  as  far  probably  as  the  extent  of  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence.     Compare  llakluyr.s  map  of  1587.     Ruysch  dift'ers  from  La  Cosa  only 
as  he  had  to  n>cord  also  the  discoveries  of  the  (Jortereals.     Tlie  remark  of  Peter 
Martyr,  in  l.")!.")  (aftor  their  eyes  wore  opened  to  the  size  and  shape  of  the  globe 
by  the  discovery  of  the  Pacific)  about  Cabot's  reacliiug  on  the  Americun  coast  the 
latitude  of  Gibraltar,  and  flnding  himself  then  on  a  meridian  of  longitude  far  enough 
west  to  leave  Cul)a  on  his  left,  is  simply  .ibsurd,  dilommati/.o  it  as  you  will.     Such 
a  voyage  wotild  have  lauiled  hiui  near  Cinchmati. 

*  A  little  book,  hitherto  unknown,  written  by  Walter  Lud,  and  printed  at  Stras- 
burg  in  1.507,  entitled  Speeidi  Orhia  Declaratio,  discovered  by  the  writer  in  1862, 
has  been  tlie  means  of  clearing  up  many  unjust  asiKjrsions  of  historians  against 
Vespucci,  and  explaining  the  true  state  of  aflairs.  The  book  is  now  in  the  British 
Museum.  The  writer,  after  unsuccessful  endeavors  for  two  years  to  place  it  in 
America,  at  the  end  of  March,  18G4,  had  the  great  satisfaction  of  railing  the  atten- 
tion of  his  friend,  R.  TL  Major,  Rsq.,  to  it,  and  pointing  out  to  liim  the  passages  re- 
ferring to  the  Vespucci  books.  How  woU  Mr.  M.ajor  has  used  those  materials  his 
excellent  paper  on  the  Manuscript  Map  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  printed  in  the  Arch- 
ceologia  and  his  admirable  Life  of  Prince  Ilinry  the  Navigator,  abimdautly  show. 
The  next  year  the  writer  called  Monsieur  Uarrisso's  attention  to  it,  and  in  his  Bib. 
Am.  Vet.  it  appear,'?,  under  No.  49. 
6 


36 


its  l»eiiig  Zijmngii,  or  part  of  tlio  main  laml  of  Asia.  It  was 
found  to  bo  a  long,  narrow  island,  extending  oast  and  west,  and 
not  north  and  soulli,  like  Zipangu.  A  strange  confusion  now 
began  to  seize  llie  (ierinan  gi'ograpliersof  Strasbnrg  and  Vienna. 
Tliey  made  Cuba  an  island,  and  called  it  Isabella,  and  then 
transferred  all  the  names  from  Isabella  to  a  mainland,  named 
usually,  Terra  de  Cuba,  connecting  it  with  Paria  (sometimes 
with  and  sometimes  without  a  narrow  strait)  standing  bolt  up- 
right, and  extending  to  -io^  north  latitude,  with  a  point  like 
Florida,  and  a  gulf  to  the  west  of  it.  This  was  still  supposed 
to  be  |)art  of  Asia,  tiie  Kloridti-like  projection  being  the  Corea. 
and  the  gulf,  the  sinus  Gangeticum,  but  in  reality  existed  only 
in  the  inKiginatit)ns  of  the  geographers,  like  Antilla  and  San 
Brandan.  It  holds  on  their  nuips  about  twenty  names,  some  of 
which  are  found  on  Ruysch's  large  island  or  main  land  west  of 
Spagnola,  and  all  of  which  are  found  on  early  maps,  especially 
on  a  Pcjrtugucse  portalano  compiled  by  Leltwcl  under  date  of 
15U1-4.  It  is  in  the  Ptolemy  of  1518,  extending  up  to  45°  with 
the  three-mouthed  Ganges  and  the  G  ulf  of  Ganges,  while  on  the 
globe  of  Schoner,  of  1520,  it  reaches  51°,  and  is  separated  from 
Zi])angu  by  live  or  six  degrees  of  Balboa's  newly  discovered 
South  Sea  which  by  a  strange  guess  is  carried  due  north  to  the 
pole.  0(1'  to  the  northeast,  in  its  proper  latitude  and  longitude, 
most  of  these  maps  have  Terra  de  Corte  Real  as.  a  large  island, 
extending  probably  as  far  as  the  Cabots  and  the  Cortereals  dis- 
covered— tluit  is,  as  far  west  as  the  meridian  of  Porto  Rico. 
Some  maps  have  it  Terra  de  Cuba,  others  Paria ;  and  one,  in 
the  Munjarita  Phihuophica  of  1515,  from  a  misreading  of  Colum- 
bus' first  letter,  Zoana  Mela.  This  fancy  continent  grew  in  size 
for  nearly  a  (quarter  of  a  century,  and  was  hard  to  get  rid  of, 
but  the  explorations  of  Ayllon,  Coi-tez,  Gomez,  Verrazzano,  Car- 
tier,  and  othei-s,  finally  drove  it  from  our  geographies. 

In  1513  Florida,  up  to  Chicora,  was  explored  by  Ponce  de 
Leon,  but  it  is  now  certain  that  it  had  been  discovered  two  or 
three  years  before,  probably  by  private  adventurers,  but  perhaps 
by  Ocampo  in  his  return  voyage  in  1508.  At  all  events,  it  ap- 
pears correctly  laid  down  in  the  excellent  map  of  Peter  Martyr 
printed  at  Seville  April  11th,  1511,  under  the  designation,  Islu 
de  Beimenl.     This  map,  exhibiting  an  unbroken  coast  line  from 


1 


f  Asia.  It  wns 
t  and  wost,  iiiid 
con  fusion  now 
ii'fi;  and  Vienna, 
holla,  and  tlii'n 
ainland,  named 
iria  (soinotimes 
andinj,'  holt  np- 
tli  a  point  like 
s  still  su|)porfed 
jcing  tlio  Coiva, 
ity  existed  only 
Lntilla  and  San 
names,  some  of 
ain  land  west  ol 
maps,  especially 
I  under  date  of 
g  up  to  45°  with 
;es,  while  on  the 
1  separated  from 
iwly  discovered 
lue  north  to  the 
3  and  longitude, 
,s.a  large  island, 
e  Cortereals  dis- 
of  Porto  Rico, 
■ia ;  and  one,  in 
ading  of  Colum- 
eut  grew  in  size 
d  to  get  rid  of, 
^errazzano.  Car- 
opines. 

3d  by  Ponce  de 
^covered  two  or 
•ers,  but  perhaps 
all  events,  it  ap- 
of  Peter  Martyr 
iesignation,  Isla 
1  coast  line  from 


87 

Capo  Santa  Cmz,  in  Rra/-il.  to  the  mi.ldle  of  Vucatnn,  with 
hints. )f('ontiM(Mital  Tmu's  tVoni  Florida  northward  and  westward, 
and  one  due  north  of  Yueatan,  if  studied  by  the  light  of  Peter 
Martyr's  tenth  book  of  his  second  decade,  <lated  December,  lol-t, 
will  foreshadow  an  approaching  eclipse  of  Spanish  enterprise  in 

this  direction. 

There  is  little  doubt  that,  at  the  time  ol'  the  publieation  ot 
this  most  important  map,  the  author  was  still  under  the  beliei 
that  all  these;  new  main  lands  somehow  pertained  to  the  conti- 
nent of  Asia.     It  is  true,  he  informs  us  that  soi.ie  pliilosophers, 
and  he  leaves  us  to  infer  that  he  was  one  of  them,  had  ih.  ir  sus- 
picions thatCoiuml)US  was  mistaken  in  his  opinion  of  its  being 
Cathay,  that  the  globe  was  larger  than  Ct)lumbus  supposed,  and 
that  he  had  not  really  reached  the  antipodes,  or  tbe  kingdom  of 
the  Grand  Khan.     But  when  Columl)US,  in  his  fourth  voyage, 
brought  home  some  i)oppiniays,  and  exhibited  their  brilliant 
plumage  at  the  court,  the  good  old  gossipping  letter-writer  ac- 
knowledged that  the  great  Discoverer  was  right,  that  such  beau- 
tiful birds  cHMild  come  only  from  the  East.     Hence,  probably  on 
this  map  the  lines  west  of  Beimeni  and  north  of  Yucatan  are 
dream  lines  from  Marco  Polo.     Indeed,  Peter  Martyr  says,  in 
his  first  decade,  finished  in  1610  and  printed  shortly  after,  that 
all  these  provinces  of  Paria,  Cariena,  Canehiet,  Cuquibacoa, 
Uraba,  Veragua,  and  others,  are  supposed  to  pertain  to  the  con- 
tinent of  India.     Florida  and  Beimini  forgotten  by  Marco  Polo, 
and  left  out  of  his  report !     Shade  of  Sebastian  Cabot ! 

In  1511  Cuba  was  settled  under  favorable  auspices,  and  witli 
Diego  Velasquez  as  governor  over  well  to-do  colonists,  it  became 
the 'base  of  operations  for  extensive  explorations.  On  the  8th 
of  Febmary,  1517,  Francisco  Hernandez  de  Cordova,  accom- 
panied by  Bernal  Diaz  del  Castillo,  he  of  the  True  History,  and 
Antonio  Alaminos  as  pilot,  who  as  a  boy  had  sailed  with  Colum- 
bus, set  out  on  an  exploring  expedition  to  the  west,  to  look  for 
trade,  gold,  and  the  long-sought  passage  to  the  land  of  promise. 
He  went  by  Cape  Catoche,  the  bay  of  Campeche,  as  far  as  Cham- 
poton,  and  returned.  The  next  year,  1518,  on  the  5th  of  April, 
Juan  de  Grijalva  set  out  on  the  same  route,  with  a  better  fleet 
and  fuller  instructions,  accompanied  by  Bernal  Diaz,  Pedro  de 
Alvarado,  and  the  ever  faithful  Palinums,  Alaminos.     They 


88 

visited  Cozumel,  Cape  Catoche,  Campeche,  Rio  Tabasco,  Poton- 
chaii,  and  named  tlie  country  New  Spain.  They  went  as  far  as 
Panuco.  Alvarado  was  sent  back  with  the  sick  and  heai)s  of 
gokl,  but  Grijalva  iiiniiself  did  not  return  to  Cuba  till  the  15th 
of  November.  The  journal  of  this  important  expedition,  kept 
by  the  chaplain,  Diez,  was  iirst  published  in  Italian  by  Zorzi,  at 
Venice  in  1520,  as  an  ai)pendage  to  the  Ttinerario  of  \''arthema. 

Three  days  after  Grijulva's  return,  Hernando  Cortez,  on  the 
18th  of  November,  1518,  with  the  instructions  in  his  pocket, 
which  the  governor  sought  in  vain  to  recall  after  the  return  and 
favorable  report  of  Alvarado,  embarktd  on  that  most  wonder- 
ful expedition  of  modern  history,  but  he  did  not  i-eally  leave 
Cuba  for  Cozumel  till  the  10th  of  February,  1519.  He  followed 
the  courses  of  Cordova  and  Grijalva  till  he  reached  Vera  Cruz. 
From  thence  he  ascended  the  Grand  Plateau,  and  what  ibllowed 
is  known  to  all  the  world.  In  his  Second  Relation,  dated  30th 
October,  1520,  Cortes  sent  to  the  Emperor  a  map  of  the  entir 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  well  laid  down,  which  was  pi'inted  for  the  first 
time  in  152-4,  at  Augsburg,  where  Charles  V  had  resided.  This 
map  was  incorporated  into  Oroutius  Fine's  celebrated  map  of 
the  world  dated  July,  1531,  which,  compared  with  the  account 
of  Hegelian's  voyage,  and  the  third  and  fourth  Relations  of 
Cortes,  led  the  great  gcograjiher  and  astronomer  of  Nuremburg, 
Schoner,  the  next  year,  1532,  to  completely  change  his  mind  as 
to  the  extent  of  the  South  Sea,  and  place  it  almost  entirely 
south  of  the  equator,  extending  Asia  to  the  north  of  it  from  the 
Ganges  to  Bacalaos,  or  Newfoundland.  On  this  map  of  Cortes 
are  the  names  of  all  the  places  at  which  he  touched  from  Yuca- 
tan along  the  coast  as  far  as  Vera  Cruz.  These  are,  in  order, 
Santo  Anton,  Roca  Partida,  Rio  de  Grijalva,  Rio  de  la  Palma, 
Rio  de  dos  botas,  Caribes,  Santo  Andres,  Rio  de  Cocuqualquo, 
Roca  partida,  Rio  de  Vanderas,  Rio  de  Alvarado,  P.  de  Sant 
Juan,  Seville,  Almera,  and  San  Pedro.  The  Rio  de  Cocuqual- 
quo was  surveyed  for  many  miles,  probal)ly  with  tlie  hope  of 
finding  an  opening  to  the  South  Sea.  In  Fine's  map  of  1531 
most  of  Cortes'  names  are  indiscriminately  mixed  up  with  those 
of  Marco  Polo.     [PI.  iii.  No.  3  and  4.] 

In  1519,  Francisco  Garay,  the  Governor  of  Jamaica,  dispatched 
Alonzo  Alvarez  de  Pineda  to  explore  the  keys  and  coasts  of 


11. 


Pabasco,  Poton- 
Y  went  as  fur  as 
jk  and  lieaj)s  of 
aa  till  the  15th 
xpedition,  kept 
ian  by  Zorzi,  at 
10  of  \'  arthema. 
I  C'jrtez,  on  the 
in  his  pocket, 
•  the  return  and 
t  most  wonder- 
lot  really  leave 
I.  He  followed 
hod  Vera  Cruz. 
I  what  followed 
ion,  dated  30th 
ip  of  the  entir 
ted  for  the  first 
.  resided.  This 
ebrated  map  of 
itli  the  account 
th  lielations  of 
of  Nuremburg, 
age  his  mind  as 
almost  entirely 
h  of  it  from  the 
3  map  of  Cortes 
bed  fi'om  Yuca- 
sc  are,  in  order, 
lio  de  la  Palma, 
e  Cocuqualquo, 
ulo,  P.  de  Sant 
io  de  Cocuqual- 
ith  the  hope  of 
's  map  of  1531 
d  up  with  those 

aica,  dispatched 
's  and  coasts  of 


89 

Florida,  but  owing  to  the  reefs  and  contrary  winds,  he  directed 
his  way  round  by  the  northwest  coast  by  Mobile  Bay,  and  the 
Mississippi  river  to  Vera  Cruz,  thus  completing  a  ftill  and  care- 
ful survey  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  But  still  the  (lisai)[)ointing 
report  to  the  home  government  of  old  Spain  was — no  th(3rough- 
fiire.  Here  was  the  eclipse.  Portugal  had  gained  a  strong  foc^t- 
hold  of  eight  hundred  miles  on  the  coast  of  Brazil  in  conse- 
quence of  removing  the  Line  westward.  In  this  way  Spain  be- 
came hemmed  in  between  two  lines  of  demarcation,  the  one  the 
breadth  of  the  Pope,  the  other  the  Cordilleras  of  the  new  hemi- 
sphere, the  one  about  as  impassible  as  the  other,  to  the  Spanish 
mind. 

Thus  all  these  three  fields  of  discovery  had  by  degrees  crept 
into  one  vast  continent,  extending  from  the  Arctic  to  the  Ant- 
artic  Circle.'^,  and,  instead  of  being  India,  the  land  of  fabulous 
treasures,  it  was  an  impassable  bamer  to  the  approach  thither 
by  the  western  route.  In  1513,  when  Vespucci  had  been  in  his 
grave  a  year,  and  Columbus  seven,  Nunez  de  Balboa  fli-st  saw 
the  Pacific  Ocean  (for  many  years  called  the  South  Sea)  from 
the  mountain  tops  of  Panama,  and  soon  after  navigators  began 
to  realize  that  the  land  of  spices  was  beyond  another  ocean,  even 
more  vast  than  the  Atlantic  itself.  The  beautiful  name  America 
now  began  to  swallow  up  the  conjunctives,  to  spread  itself 
eventually  all  over  the  new  hemisphere,  by  the  same  law  that 
made  the  Libya  of  the  Eomans  succumb  to  its  younger  and 
more  beautifully  named  daughter,  Africa. 

But  S})ain,  with  her  new  Emperor,  her  Fonsecas,  her  Corteses, 
her  PizaiT(3s,  her  Almagros,  her  Don  Quixotes,  her  afiiuent  mis 
eries,  her  newly  awakened  thirst  for  gold,  her  Christian  zeal, 
and  her  jealous  rivalry  for  possession  of  the  Spiceries,  was  not 
the  power  to  bend  or  break.  Slie  redoubled  her  energies,  made 
laws  for  the  regulation  of  her  half  of  the  world,  and  pious  and 
unscrupulous  as  they  were,  systematized  her  efforts.  She  would 
not  })ermit  the  Portuguesr  to  seek  a  passage  to  their  eastern 
posse^^^sions  through  her  half  by  the  way  of  the  Isthmuses  of 
America,  and  by  the  same  rule  she  felt  a  delicacy  in  using  their 
route  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Her  ambassadors  and  agents 
in  foreign  counti'ies  manifested  no  such  scruples. 


! 


,1' 


40 

In  1512  or  earlier,  Sebastian  Cabot  was  seduced  frora  Eng- 
land, and  induced  to  take  service,  with  bis  experience,  in  Spain  : 
and  the  same  vear  Juan  de  Solis,  exploring  the  coast  of  Soutli 
America,  discovered  Rio  de  la  Plata.     In  1515  he  was  again  sent 
thither  with  a  view  of  finding  a  passage  to  the  Soutli  Sea,  and 
thence  to  the  Moluccas.     This  expedition  returned  soon  after 
in  c(msequence  of  the  death  of  Solis,  but  it  led  the  way  to  a 
success  fill  one  in  1519,  under  Magellan,  a  disaffected  Portuguese 
gentlemau  who  had  served  his  country  for  five  years  in  the 
Indies  under  Albuquerque,  and  understood  well  the  secrets  of 
the  Eastern  trade.     In  1517,  conjointly  with  his  geographical 
and  a<tronomical  friend,  Huy  Falerio,  another  unrequited  Por- 
tuguese, he  offered  his  services  to  the  Spanish  court,     At  the 
same  time  these  two  friends  proposed  not  only  to  prove  that  the 
Moluccas  were  within  the  Spanish  lines  of  demarcation,  but  to 
discover  a  passage  thither  diiferent  from  that  used  by  the  Por- 
tuguese.    Tlieir  schemes  were  listened  to,  adopted  and  earned 
out     Tlic  Straits  of  Magellan  w<n-(   li,-"overed,  the  broad  South 
Sea  was  crossed,  the  Ladrones  nn-l  th.  ' '  -'ilipines  were  inspected, 
the  Moluccas  were  passed  thro  igli,  t'.vj.  Oapeof  Good  Hope  was 
doubled  on  the  homeward  voyage,  and  the  globe  was  circum- 
navigated, all  in  less  than  three  years,  from  1519  to  1522.     Ma- 
gellan lost  his  life,  and  only  one  of  his  five  ships  returned  to 
tell  the  marvelcniH  stoiy.     The  magnitude  of  the  enterprise  was 
equalled  only  by  the  magnitude  of  the  result;^      The  globe  for 
the  first  time  began  to  assume  its  true  character  and  size  in  the 
minds  of  men,  and  the  minds  of  men  began  soon  to  grasp  and 
utilize  the  results  of  this  circumnavigation  for  the  enlargement 
of  trade  and  commerce,  and  for  the  benefit  of  geography,  as- 
tronomy, mathematics,  and  the  other  sciences.     This  wonderful 
story,  is  it  not  told  in  a  thousand  books?     Tu  Sinmish  eclipse 
was  now  passed,  and  America  not  long  after  sU^od  boldly  out 
as  an  indei)endent  hemisphere. 

Meanwhile  the  S])aniards  were  timid!  t.iuuti.ig  their  new 
ocean.  The  South  Sea  shores  of  Darien,  i'anano,  and  Veragua 
were  explored  in  1515  to  1517,  as  they  had  been  i  fov  years  be- 
fore on  the  nortii  side,  with  a  view  of  finding  a  water  communi- 
cation I'rom  ocean  to  ocean.  Estcvan  (xouiez,  another  decoyed 
Portuguese  pilot  in  the  service  of  Spain,  who  went  with  Magel- 


'Tt 


kkI  from  Eng- 
ince,  in  Spain  ; 
const  of  South 
I  was  again  sent 
3outli  Sea,  and 
■nod  soon  after 
[  the  way  to  a 
ted  Portuguese 
e  years  in  the 
[1  tlie  secrets  of 
is  geographical 
inrequitcd  Por- 
court,     At  the 
i  prove  that  the 
xrcation,  but  to 
sed  by  the  Por- 
ted and  ean-ied 
he  broad  South 
were  inspected, 
jood  Hope  was 
(be  was  circnra- 
)  to  1522.     Ma- 
ips  returned  to 
3  enterprise  was 
Tlie  globe  for 
•  and  size  in  the 
lon  to  grasp  and 
the  enlargement 
f  geography,  as- 
This  wonderful 
Spanish  eclipse 
it»)od  boldly  out 

ptiag  their  new 
li).,  and  Veragua 
a  i  fov,  years  be- 
watcr  communi- 
another  decoyed 
rent  with  Magel- 


41 

Ian  in  1519  as  far  as  the  Straits  and  there  discreditably  deserted 
him,  returning  to  Si)ain  in  1521,  rei>orted  that,  tlumgh  a  strait 
had  been  found  by  the  admiral,  it  was  too  remote  and  too  dan- 
gerous for  use.  It  was  resolved,  therefore,  to  seek  for  the  sup- 
posed isthmian  passage  by  a  more  tiiorough  examination  of  the 
coasts  of  the  Pacific.  Accordingly,  in  1522,  four  vessels  liav- 
ing  been  built  at  Panama,  Avila  and  the  i)ilot  Nino  set  out  to 
explore  the  coast  from  the  Bay  of  San  Miguel  to  the  Gulf  of 
Fonseca,  expecting  to  find  at  the  latter  place  a  passage  by  water 
through  to  the  Gulf  of  Honduras. 

The  same  year  Cortes,  after  having  subjected  the  mighty  bar- 
baric empiicof  Montezuma,  extending  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific,  with  characteristic  energy  set  him.self  to  work  exploring 
to  find  a  natural  water  passage,  or  to  make  an  artificial  one. 
He  ordered  four  ships  to  be  built  at  Zacatula,  two  for  direct 
trade  to  the  Moluccas,  and  two  to  searcli  for  the  strait.  The 
voyage  to  the  Moluccas  was  postponed,  but  the  search  for  the 
strait  was  prosecuted  so  vigorously  that,  between  the  expedi- 
tions of  Avila  and  his  own,  every  inlet  was  explored  between 
Colima,  in  latitude  18i°  North,  and  the  Bay  of  San  Miguel,  a 
distance  of  above  2,500  miles  of  coast  line,  but  of  course  with- 
out finding  any  ;^assage.  The  following  year,  1523,  Cortes  is 
said  to  have  dispatched  five  small  vessels  to  reconnoitre  the  coasts 
from  Florida  northward,  to  seek  for  the  passage  connecting  the 
two  oceans.  His  plan  was  to  send  anotliev  fleet  uj)  the  western 
coast  that  they  might  meet  somewhere  north  of  the  German 
geographer's  fancy  continent,  or  sail  round  it.  Of  course  they 
never  met. 

In  1524,  Pizarro  and  Almagro,  the  future  conquerors  of  Peru, 
began  their  apjiroaches  thither  from  Panama,  caiTying  with  them 
alwaj'^s  the  impossible  instructions  to  seek  out  the  hidden  pas- 
sage, while  they  were  looking  for  trade  and  searcliing  for  gold. 

The  Poi'tuguese  in  India  and  the  Spiceries,  as  well  as  at  home, 
now  seeing  the  inevitable  conflict  approaching,  were  thoroughly 
aroused  to  the  importance  of  maintaining  their  rights.  They 
oi)enly  asserted  them,  and  pronounced  this  trade  with  the  Mo- 
luccas by  the  Spanish  an  encroachment  on  their  prior  discoveries 
and  possession,  as  well  as  a  violation  of  the  Papal  Compact  of 
1491,  and  prepared  themselves  energetically  for  defense  and  of- 


i'- 


42 

fcnso.     On  the  other  liand,  the  Spaniards  as  openly  declared 
that  MageUan's  fleet  canied  the  first  Christians  to  the  Moluecas, 
and  l>y  I'riendly  intercourse  with  the  kings  of  those  islands,  re- 
duced tlioni  to  Christian  subjection  and  brought  back  letters 
and  tribute  to  Ciesar.     Ilcncc  these  kings  and  their  peo})le  eanie 
under  tlic  i)i-otcction  ol"  Charles  V.     Besides  this,  the  Spaniards 
claimed  that  the  Moluccas  were  within  the  Sitanish  half,  and 
were  therefore  doubly  theirs.     Accordingly  great  preparations 
were  made  to  dispatch  a  fleet  of  six  new  ships  to  the  Moluccas, 
to  establish  and  protect  trade.     The  Council  of  the  Indies  ad- 
vised the  P]niperor  to  nuiintain  this  fleet  there,  and  to  take  the 
Silicones  into  his  own  hands,  and  carry  on  commerce  anil  nav- 
igation thither  through  his  own  exclusive  channels,  either  by 
the  strait  recently  discovered  l)y  Magellan,  or  l)y  some  hidden 
one  which  must  soon  be  disch)sed  (if  any  reliance  could    be 
placed  on  the  geographers)  in  a  more  direct  line  through  some 
one  of  the  isthmuses :  or,  tailing  that,  by  opening  communica- 
tion from  the  coast  of  the  Pacific. 

Matters  tlius  waxing  hot.  King  John  of.  Portugal  begged 
Charles  V  to  delay  dispatching  his  new  fleet  until  the  disputed 
points  could  be  discussed  and  settled.  Charles,  who  boasted 
that  he  had  rather  be  right  than  rich,  consented,  and  the  ships 
were  staid.  These  two  Christian  princes,  who  owned  all  the 
newly  discovered  and  to  be  discovered  parts  of  the  whole  world 
between  them  by  deed  of  gift  of  the  Pope,  agreed  to  meet  in 
Congress  at  Badajos  hy  their  representatives,  to  discuss  and  set- 
tle all  matters  in  disj)ute  about  the  division  of  their  patrimony, 
and  to  define  and  stake  out  their  lands  and  waters,  both  parties 
asrreeing  to  abide  by  the  decision  of  the  Congress. 

Accordingly,  in  the  early  spring  of  152-1,  up  went  to  this  lit- 
tle border  town  four-and-twenty  wise  men,  or  thereabouts,  chosen 
by  each  prince.  They  comprised  the  fii-st  judges,  lawyers,  math- 
ematicians, astronimiers.  cosjnographers,  navigators  and  pilots 
oi'  the  land,  among  whose  names  were  many  honored  now  as 
tlien — such  as  Femanilo  Columbus,  Sebastian  Cabot,  Estevan 
Gomez,  Diego  Kibero,  etc.  They  were  empowered  to  send  for 
persons  and  pa})ers,  and  did  in  reality  have  before  them  pilots. 
Papal  bulls,  treaties,  royal  grants  and  patents,  log  books,  maps, 
charts,  globes,  itineraries,  astronomical  tables,  the  fathers   of 


W 


II 


48 


pcnly  declared 
f)  the  Moluccas, 
\()se  islands,  re- 
lit, back  letters 
eir  peo))le  came 
s,  tbe  Si)aniards 
lanisli  hall',  and 
sat  preparations 

0  the  Moluccas, 
r  the  Indies  ad- 
aud  to  take  the 
imerce  and  nav- 
nncls,  eitlier  by 
l)y  some  bidden 
iiance  coulil  be 
le  tbroufib  some 
ing  communica- 

*ortugal  begged 
itil  the  disputed 
es,  who  boasted 
d,  and  the  ships 
D  owned  all  the 
the  whole  world 
2:rced  to  meet  in 
discuss  and  set- 
their  patrimony, 
ters.  both  parties 

■CSS. 

1  went  to  this  lit- 
ireabouts,  chosen 
;s,  lawyers,  math- 
rators  and  pilots 

honored  now  as 
1  Cabot,  Estevan 
.rcred  to  send  tor 
jfore  them  pilots, 
log  books,  maps, 
s,  the  fathers   of 


the  church,  ancient  geographies  and  modern  geographers,  navi- 
gators with  their  comi)asscs,  rpiadrants,  astrolal)es,  mathemati- 
cal instruments,  etc.  For  two  months  they  fenccil,  cy[)hered, 
debated,  argued,  protested,  discussed,  gi-umblcd,  quarreled  and 
almost  fougiit,  yet  they  could  agree  upon  nothing. 

Whereas  in  the  treaty  of  l-i{»4r  tlie  Portuguese  claimed  the 
right  of  placing  the  line  liirlher  west  than  370  leagues  from  the 
Ca])C  Verde  Islands,  whiK-  the  Spaniards  contended  rather  to 
carry  it  farther  east  than  ])laccd  in  the  original  bull,  both  parties 
now  (so  much  does  self-interest  sometimes  modily  arguments  of 
right)  contended  for  the  very  opposite  to  their  former  arguments. 
Tiie  line,  however,  had  been  fixed  on  and  approved  by  the  Pope 
in  1494:,  and  therefore  could  not  be  altered  by  them.  But  as 
tliere  were  150  miles  between  the  most  easterly  and  most  west- 
erly of  the  Cape  Verde  Islands,  they  discussed  angj-ily  as  to 
which  island  the  line  should  pass  through,  each  party  knowing 
that  every  mile  the  line  was  moved  here  to  the  east  or  west,  it 
would  necessarily  have  to  l)e  moved  just  so  much  at  the  anti- 
podes, the  real  field  in  disi>ute. 

The  debates  and  proceedings  of  this  Congress,  as  reported  by 
Peter  Martyr,  Oviedo,  and  Gomara,  are  very  amusing,  but  no 
regular  joint  decision  could  be  reached,  the  Poi-tuguese  declin- 
ing to  subscribe  to  the  verdict  of  the  Spaniards,  inasmuch  as  it 
deprived  them  ol'  the  Moluccas.  So  each  party  published  and 
proclaimed  its  own  decision,  after  the  Congress  broke  up  in  con- 
fusion <ni  the  last  day  of  May,  1524.  It  was,  however,  tacitly 
understood  that  the  Moluccas  fell  to  Spain,  while  Brazil,  to  the 
extent  of  two  hundred  leagues  from  Cape  St  Augustine,  fell  to 
the  Portuguese.  The  calculation  of  longitude  was  the  jxms  as- 
inorum  of  the  Congi-ess,  the  very  problem  that  had  deceived 
Columbus  and  other  experienced  navigators  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury before.  At  this  time  let  it  be  remembered,  no  geographer 
had  given  any  hint  of  the  fan-like  shape  of  North  America,  but 
all  maps  represent  it  as  a  narrow  strip  of  land,  like  that  from 
Panama  to  Tchuantcpec,  with  the  South  Sea,  itself  narrow,  run- 
ning up  to  the  west  of  it. 

However,  much  good  resulted  from  this  first  geographical 
Congress.  The  extent  and  breadth  of  the  Pacific  were  appre- 
ciated, and  the  influence  of  the  Congress  was  soon  after  seen  in 


t     ! 


I  "j 


We 

the  greatly  inii^roved  maps,  globe.",  and  charts.  Many  doiiht 
fill  points  in  geography  and  navigation  were  eleareil  ii])  on  both 
.sides  of  the  globe,  and  the  latit\ide  and  longitnde  of  many  places 
\v(.'re  defined.  Indeed,  on  the  new  maps  after  this,  all  the  di^;- 
coverics  actually  made,  up  to  1524,  were  tolerably  well  laid 
down,  but  there  was  a  deal  of  imposition  left  in  the  imaginar) 
lines  of  those  pans  of  the  North  American  coa.st  which  had  not 
yet  been  explored,  that  is,  between  Florida  and  Nova  Scotia. 
These  false  lines  were  still  used  by  the  pilots  of  both  Spain  and 
Portugal,  probably  with  a  view  of  blinding  the  eyes  of  each 
other,  or  leading  astray  the  outside  barbarians  of  England, 
France,  and  Holland,  who,  though  children  of  the  Father,  and 
given  to  trade  and  adventure,  had  no  share  in  the  Papal  gratu- 
ity. The  fact  that  all  the  coasts  of  South  America,  Panama, 
Nicaragua,  Honduras,  Yucatan,  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  Flor- 
ida, as  well  as  of  the  Pacific  shores  from  the  Gulf  of  San  Mig- 
uel to  Colinia,  that  had  been  surveyed  by  the  Spaniards  up  to 
this  time,  were  well  laid  down,  both  as  to  latitude  and  longitude, 
proves  almost  to  a  certainty  that  the  indefinite  coast  line  of  the 
United  States  was  still  imaginary,  if  not  Asiatic.  Indeed,  the 
old  wood-cut  maps  of  1513  and  1522  of  the  German  geographere, 
with  their  ideal  continent,  Ten-a  de  Cuba,  did  service,  without 
alteration  in  the  Ptolemies,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  later. 

The  return  of  Magellan's  ship  Victoria  in  1522  aroused  the 
spirit  of  public  and  private  enterprise  throughout  Spain. 
Innumerable  schemes  for  developing  commerce  with  the  Orient, 
and  making  further  exploiations,  were  proposed  and  discussed. 
Every  pilot,  whether  amateur  or  practical,  had  his  card  of  the 
shortest  route  to  the  Indies.  Of  these  schemes  no  less  than 
six  in  1523  and  1524  were  adopted  by  the  government,  and 
promoted  wholly  or  in  part  by  public  funds;  viz.,  that  of 
Cortes,  of  Loaysa,  of  Gomez,  of  Ayllon,  of  Cabot,  and  of 
Saavedra.  The  impending  conflict  with  Portugal  called  to- 
gether the  Congress  of  Badajos.  That  being  over  by  the  1st 
of  June,  1524,  and  resulting  practically  in  favor  of  Spain, 
these  several  plans  were  matured  as  fast  as  practicable. 

Cortes,  the  first  and  most  active,  had  no  sooner  conquered 
Mexico  and  clenched  his  conquest  than  he  began  his  explora- 
tion of  the  coasts  of  the  Pacific.    Without  delay  he  sent 


i 


f^., 


I.  Many  donht 
■arcil  u]i  on  both 
0  of  many  places 

this,  all  the  cli^;- 
oral)ly  well  laid 
111  the  iiraginary 
;t  which  had  not 
id  Nova  Scotia, 
'both  Spain  and 
the  eyes  of  each 
ms  of  England, 
'  the  Father,  and 
the  Paiial  gratu- 
inerica,  Panama, 
[exico,  and  Flor- 
lulf  of  San  Mig- 

Spaniards  up  to 
le  and  longitude, 

coast  line  of  the 
tic.  Indeed,  the 
nan  geographer, 

service,  without 
century  later. 
1522  aroused  the 
roughout  Spain. 
!  with  the  Orient, 
xl  and  discussed. 
:l  his  card  of  the 
aes  no  less  than 
government,  and 
Is;   viz.,  that  of 
»f  Cabot,  and  of 
irtugal  called  to- 

over  by  the  1st 

favor  of  Spain, 
icticable. 

jooner  conquered 
egan  his  explora- 
.t  delay  he  sent 


46 

Alvarado  and  other  captainri  to  the  south  and  southeast,  to 
bring  into  subjection  the  chiefs  of  tlie  Province  of  Oaxuca  and 
what  is  now  called  the  Lslliauis  of  Tuliuantepec,  and,  shortly 
after,  proceeded  thither  himself. 

Ships  were  built  on  the  Pacilic  side,  but  with  many  of  the 
materials  carted  over  from  the  Coatzacoalcos  River.  All  the 
details  of  this  scheme,  from  the  loth  of  May,  1522,  to  the  15th 
of  October,  1524,  are  recorded  in  Cortes'  Fourth  Relation  to 
the  Emperor,  printed  at  Toledo,  October  20th,  1525.  This  Re- 
lation in  Spain,  with  the  reports  of  Alvarado  and  Godoy  at- 
tached, gave  still  another  impulse  to  the  new  speculations  and 
enterprises,  as  it  showed  not  only  the  practicability,  but  the 
probability  of  opening  by  artificial  means  a  direct  roiite  to  the 
Orient  in  a  low  latitude  and  good  climate.  Cortes  was  clear- 
headed and  far-sighted  enough  to  see  that  lines  of  commerce 
must  be  straight  lines,  and  that  the  curves  of  the  capes  in  high 
latitudes  are  only  temporary  matters  of  necessity.  Indeed,  so 
sanguine  was  Cortes  on  these  points,  that  he  planted  his  per- 
sonal hopes  and  private  fortune  on  and  near  this  isthmus,  as 
likely  to  become  the  Old  World's  highway  for  Oriental  com- 
merce. All  the  lands  and  private  estates  selected  for  himself 
and  his  posterity,  and  confirmed  to  him  in  1529  by  the  Empe- 
ror, were  located  here  in  the  Valley  of  Oaxaca,  and  near  Tehuan- 
tejiec.  He  was  ennobled  in  1529,  taking  his  title,  MarquiiJ  del 
Vulle,  from  his  possessions  chosen  here.  To  this  day  they  are 
called  the  Cortes  Estates,  or  the  Marquisanas.  He  and  his 
kinsman,  Saavedra,  had  vast  schemes  for  opening  communica- 
tion, by  means  of  a  ship  canal  or  Roman  road,  for  the  transpor- 
tation of  merchandise  brought  hither  from  the  Moluccas  and 
other  parts  of  the  East  for  passage  or  transhipment  to  Spain. 
How  unexpectedly  this  rational  scheme  was  thwarted  will  ap- 
pear farther  on. 

At  the  end  of  1524  or  early  in  1525,  Estevan  Gomez,  the  pi- 
lot who  had  been  in  the  East,  had  started  with  Magellan  and 
deserted  him,  a  delegate  to  the  Congress  (jf  Badajos,  was  the 
first  to  get  off  from  Spain.  He  had  boasted  that  he  could  find 
a  passage  to  Cathay  and  the  Spice  Islands  by  tlie  north,  as  Ma- 
gellan had  done  by  the  south.  He  must  have  seen  at  Badajos, 
if  not  ])efore,  the  maps  of  Ruysch,  with  the  continent  west  of 


.„,..-l 


46 


'  ( 


Spagnola  extending  to  85°  north,  and  the  Hylacomyhis  map  of 
1513,  currying  the  same  ideal  continent  up  to  lat.  46°,  ending 
witli  Cape  Mar  del  Oceano,  just  above  Ruysch'a  Cape  Helicon 
(prol)al)ly  named  from  the  rumored  fountains  of  Florida).     Pe- 
ter Martyr's  map  of  1511,  and  Cortes'  map  of  1520,  printed  in 
March,  1524:,  tv)gether  wit'i  the  knowledge  that  Ponce  d.;  Leon, 
in  1513,  and  Ayllon,  in  1520,  had  explored  the  coast  of  Flori- 
da up  to  33°  40',  a  little  above  Charleston  ;  and  it  being  known 
that  Ayllon  had  another  commission  in  his  pocket,  dated  June 
12,  1523,  to  explore  still  further  north  of  Florida;  and  his  own 
commission  being  to  find  a  strait  between  Florida  and  Bjycala- 
os;  these  considerations  make  it  certain  that  Gomez'  field  of 
search  lay  between  35"  and  45^  or  between  Norfolk  and  Cape 
Sa>)le,  where,  as  Peter  Martyr  expresses  it,  "  he  found  pleasant 
and  profitable  countries  agreeable  with  our  parallels."     Very 
little  is  known  about  this  unimportant  expedition,  and  no  au- 
thentic maps  or  papers  have  come  down  to  us.     The  contempo- 
rary liistorians  give  no  prominence  to  it,  and  very  few  facts  about 
it.     Indeed  from  what  is  at  present  known,  it  is  very  difficult 
to  tell  whether  Gomez  sailed  uj)  or  down  the  coast,  or  both,  or 
at  wliat  points  he  touched.     So  little  infonnation  did  he  bring 
back,  that  it  would  not  now  be  a  matter  worth  discussing  if  tlie 
results  of  the  voyage  had  not  been  so  enormously  exaggerated 
by  recent  writers. 

Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  Gomez  sailed  v/ith  only  a  single 
caravel  of  fifty  tons,  with  perhaps  a  dozen  men,  in  the  dead  of 
winter,  from  Coruna,  in  lat.  43°,  the  government  contribution 
toward  the  cost  of  the  fit-out  being  only  750  ducats,  returning 
in  November,  1525,  after  an  absence  of  about  ten  months,  with 
some  Indian  slaves,  whom  he  had  kidnapped  against  a  recent 
law  of  Spain  and  the  positive  instructions  of  the  Emperor,  and 
you  have  the  whole  stoiy.  Oviedo,  writing  in  1526,  says  that 
he  sailed  to  the  northern  parts  and  found  a  great  part,  of  land 
continuate  from  that  which  is  called  Bacalaos,  taking  his  course 
toward  the  west  to  40°  and  41°,  from  whence  he  lirought  certain 
Indians.  Would  an  intelligent  pilot  sail  north  with  such  a 
craft  in  winter?  Might  not  New  England  be  the  "  great  part " 
of  land  next  to  Bacalaos ;  and  might  not  the  fine  tall  natives 
of  Rhode  Island  have  been  kidnapped,  part  being  taken  to 


47: 


omylus  map  of 
lat.  46°,  ending 

Cape  Helicon 

Florida).  Pe- 
.520,  printed  in 
Ponce  do  Leon, 
!  coast  of  Flori- 
itLeing  known 
ket,  dated  June 
[a ;  and  his  own 
da  and  Btycala- 
Gomez'  field  of 
irfolk  and  Cape 

found  pleasant 
:irallels."  Very 
ion,  and  no  aii- 

The  contempo- 
(  few  facts  about 
is  very  difficult 
oast,  or  both,  or 
ion  did  he  bring 
discussing  if  tlie 
Lsly  exaggerated 

ith  only  a  single 
I,  in  the  dead  of 
ent  contribution 
lucats,  returning 
;en  months,  with 

against  a  recent 
lie  Emperor,  and 
I  1526,  says  that 
reat  ]iai*t  of  land 
taking  his  course 
3  brought  certain 
•th  with  such  a 
the  "  great  part " 

fine  tall  natives 
I  being  taken  to 


Cuba  for  sale,  the  rest  taken  to  Toledo,  thus  consuming  the  ten 
months,  without  having  gone  north  of  Cape  Cod?  Peter  Mar- 
tyr says,  writing  also  in  1526:  "lie,  neither  finding  the  strait 
nor  Cathay,  which  he  promised,  returned  back  within  ten 
months  from  his  departure.  I  always  thought  and  presupposed 
this  good  man's  imaginations  were  vain  and  frivolous."  Iler- 
reraj^who  wrote  three  quarters  of  a  century  later,  is  bardly  more 
favorable  to  this  explorer. 

The  reader  is  referred,  by  recent  writers,  to  the  manuscript 
map  of  Ribero  of  1529,  now  preserved  at  Weimar,  for  the  re- 
sult of  Gomez'  voyage.     But  the  intelligent  reader  will   see 
with  half  an  eye  that  this  is  a  partizan  map,  and  intentionally 
deceptive  in  the  coast  line  between  33°  40'  and  50°  N.     The 
discoveries  of  the  Bnglisb  cxC  thrown  into  Greenland,  and  called 
Lalmidor,  while  Bacalaos  is  given  to  tlio  Portuguese,  and  cut 
oiF  by  the  line  of  demarcation.     All  the  rest  of  the  coast  is 
closed  up  under  the  names  of  Gomez  and  Ayllon,  and  so  given 
to  Spain.     There  is  no  room  left  for  the  discoveries  of  Veraz- 
zano  for  the  French  in  1524.    The  Spaniards  knew  of  his  voy- 
ages, for  they  had  been  watching  him,  and  caught  him,  and  in 
1627  hanged  him  as  a  corsair.     Indeed,  the  best  that  can  be 
reasonably  said  of  the  voyage  of  Gomez  is,  that  it  exploded  the 
ideal  continent  of  the  German  geographers,  and,  connecting  the 
explorations  of  Ayllon  with  New  England,  showed  that  the 
coast  of  Noriih  America  trended  continually  eastward,  so  as 
probably  to  connect  it  with  the  discoveries  of  the  Cabots,  and 
thus  make  the  whole  coast  west  of  the  Line  Spanish. 

Lucas  Vasquez  Ayllon,  a  lawyer,  a  Senator  in  Hispaniola, 
and  a  man  of  position,  immediately  after  the  survey  of  the  en- 
tire Gulf  of  Mexico  under  Grijalva  and  Cortes,  sent  an  expedi- 
tion np  the  coast  of  Florida  in  1520,  as  far  as  Chicora,  explor- 
ing beyond  the  limit  of  Ponce  de  Leon,  as  far,  probably,  as 
Cape  Fear,  seeking  for  the  passage  to  Cathay.  He  found  a  fine 
country,  but  to  Asia  no  thoroughfare.  The  next  year  he  re- 
turned to  Spain,  and  was,  according  to  Peter  Martyr,  in  behalf 
of  the  Regency  of  Hispaniola  "a  long  time  suitor  [to  the  Coun- 
cil of  the  Indies]  to  have  leave  to  depart  again  into  those  coun- 
tries, to  build  a  colony  there."  At  length,  after  the  return  of 
Magellan's  ship  Victoria  with  its  glorious  news,  the  Council 


r 


t 


I 


IH 


m 


48 

•granted  his  request,  and  articles  of  agreement  were  signed  the 
12th  of  Juno,  1523,  giving  him  permission,  at  his  own  expense, 
to  fit  out  ns  many  vessels  as  he  pleased  for  the  puqjose  of  plant- 
ing his  proposed  colony,  but  the  usua'  'structions  were  inserted 
in  liis  grant,  to  explore  all  inlets  ami  islands  with  a  view  of 
linding  a  {)assage  to  Cathay.  This  license,  given  by  Navarrete, 
permitted  him  to  explore  as  far  as  800  leagues  to  the  north  oi 
Uispaniolu.  lie  returned  to  Hispaniola,  built  there  six  fine 
vessels,  and,  after  many  delays,  sailed  with  them  and  above  500 
men  and  nearly  100  horses,  in  July,  1526.  He  went  as  far 
north  as  lat.  33°  40',  found  no  strait,  and  met  with  nothing  but 
Tiiisfortuncs.  The  18th  of  October  Ayllon  died,  and  soon  after 
the  few  siirvivora,  about  150  out  of  the  500,  returned  to  His- 
paniola, the  expedition  being  a  dead  failure.  Thus  ended  the 
attempt  to  plant  a  colony  near  the  mouth  of  Cape  Fear  River, 
and  thus  ended  the  Spanish  attempts  to  penetrate  to  the  East 
by  the  way  of  the  North.  Both  Gomez  and  Ayllon  had  found 
DO  golil,  and  no  strait,  and  even  the  trees  and  animals  they  re- 
ported were  common  in  Europe ;  whereat  old  Martyr  exclaims, 
"  to  the  south  1  to  the  south  !  for  the  gi-eat  and  exceeding  riches 
of  the  equinoxial ;  they  that  seek  riches  must  not  go  unto  the 
cold  and  frozen  north."  The  whole  story  is  comprehended  in 
Martyr's  sentence.  North  America,  by  the  Spaniards,  was  never 
considered  of  any  consequence  of  itself,  and  was  regarded  only 
as  a  barrier  or  a  stepping  stone  to  a  richer,  older  and  better 
land.  It  was  necessary,  however,  to  shut  it  up  by  a  coast  line 
west  of  the  line  of  demarcation,  so  that  other  nations  might  be 
deterred  from  finding  a  northern  passage  to  India, 

The  Emperor,  considering  the  verdict  of  the  Congress  of 
Badajos  in  his  favor,  lost  no  time  in  dispatching  his  new  fleet  of 
six  sail  and  450  men  by  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  from  Coruna, 
on  the  24th  of  July,  1525,  under  the  command  of  Loaysa,  to 
the  'Violuccas  and  tlie  Spice  Islands,  with  the  view,  first,  to  suc- 
cor t  le  men  left  there  by  Magellan's  fleet,  and  then  to  establish 
a  government  bureau  and  to  protect  its  commerce.  The  Straits 
were  passed,  and  four  of  the  six  ships  reached  the  Moluccas ; 
but  the  story  of  their  long,  long  sufferings  is  too  long  to  be  told 
here. 

In  April,  1526,  Sebastian  Cabot,  who  had  for  years  been  the 


3re  signed  the 
own  expense, 
•jxwe  of  plant- 
I  were  inserted 
th  a  view  of 
by  Navurrete, 
the  north  of 
here  six  fine 
xnd  above  500 
I  went  as  far 
I  nothing  but 
ind  soon  after 
limed  to  Ilis- 
lus  ended  the 
e  Fear  River, 
to  to  the  East 
Ion  had  found 
imals  they  re- 
rtyr  exclaims, 
ceeding  riches 
5t  go  unto  the 
iprehended  in 
rds,  was  never 
regarded  only 
er  and  better 
)y  a  coast  line 
ions  might  be 

3  Congress  of 
lis  new  fleet  of 
from  Coruna, 
of  Loaysa,  to 
V,  first,  to  suc- 
m  to  establish 
I.  The  Straits 
he  Moluccas; 
long  to  be  told 

fears  been  the 


49 

Pilot  Major  of  Spain— snid,  however,  to  have  been  n  V)ettcrco8- 
mogrnpher  than  pilot— after  long  and  nniple  iroparalions  nt  Se- 
ville, sailed  for  the  Moluccas  via  tlic  Straits  of  Magellim.  with 
four  well-equipped  ships,  for  the  [turpose  of  reinforcing  and  as- 
sisting the  expedition  of  Loaysa.  'I'lii.-i  i-xpodition  was  unotlier 
dead  failure.  For  some  unaccountable  reason,  Cabot  did  not 
deem  it  prudent  to  try  the  Straits  of  Ma.ueilan,  but  attempted 
to  find  a  passage  through  the  Ilio  de  la  I'lata.  lit;  j)enotrated 
far  into  the  interior  of  Paraguay,  explored  many  large?  rivers 
and  fertil  provinces,  suffered  many  hardships,  lost  most  of  his 
men  and  ships,  and  finally,  after  four  years  of  toil  and  disap- 
pointment, returned  without  any  favorable  results. 

Cortes  was  kept  informed  of  these  several  expeditions,  with 
a  request  from  the  Emperor  that  he  would  cooperate  with  them 
at  the  Moluccas,  by  sending  a  fleet  from  the  western  coast  of 
Mexico.  Accordingly  he  caused  three  shii)s  to  be  built  on  the 
Paci^c,  and  dispatched  them,  with  110  men  and  thirty  pieces  of 
artillery,  under  command  of  his  kinsman,  Saavedra,  from  some 
port  of  Southern  Mexico,  probably  Tehuantepec,  Huatuleo,  or 
Acapulco,  on  the  31st  of  October,  1527.  This  fleet  met  that  of 
Loaysa  in  the  Moluccas,  cooperated  with  it,  found  the  Portu- 
guese strong  and  resolute,  by  no  means  disposed  to  abandon  the 
islands,  fought  them  separately,  and  fought  them  together  for 
months,  nay,  for  years,  never  hearing  a  word  from  home,  being 
cruelly  neglected,  yet  loyal  and  true,  till  reduced  to  a  handful, 
some  few  of  the  survivors,  long  after  Loaysa  and  Saavedra  had 
died,  as  well  as  most  of  the  sub-officers,  found  their  way  home 
after  twelve  years  of  unspeakable  hardships.  Thus  all  these 
six  hopeful  expeditions  brought  nothing  but  disappointment. 
The  Straits  of  Magellan  were  found  so  dangerous  and  remote, 
that  old  Peter,  had  he  lived,  would  no  doubt  have  again  ex- 
claimed as  before,  "  To  the  north  !  to  the  north  I  they  that  seek 
riches  must  not  go  to  the  dangerous  and  frozen  south  1" 

As  early  as  1526  or  1527,  before  the  extent  of  these  failures 
was  known,  it  became  apparent,  if  the  commerce  of  the  East 
was  to  flourish,  it  must  be  by  some  more  direct  communication. 
These  great  difficulties  of  the  extreme  North  and  South  deter- 
mined the  Spaniards  to  explore  the  Ipi';T>-'uses  yet  more  thor- 
ougl3^     All  the  five  routes  from  Darii    <t  Tehuantepec,  were 


\ 


m 


%V- 


\\ 


Hpokeii  of  thori  an  now,  will)  the  view  of  constructing  iininodiate- 
ly  II  canal,  road,  or  j>ortago,  (Icoiiiiiig  it  safer  and  t-lieajicr  to  tran- 
ship goods,  tlian  to  carry  them  round  by  the  Strait.  "  Tliore  are 
nioniil;iin<  il  is  true,"  exclaimed  iho  old  historian,  "but  Simnisli 
liands,  and  Spanish  enterprise  cfn  overeomo  them."  But  no  Span- 
ish liauds  could  overcome  tlie  impolitic  blunders  of  the  Emperor. 
Tliero  is  liU,l.!  doubt  that  intor-oceanic  communication  would 
have  been  opened  in  1529  or  1530,  by  means  of  a  ship  canal  or 
u  turni)ilve  across  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec,  had  not  the  Em- 
pci'or,  who  was  greatly  in  ^  if  money,  defeated  all  the 

sclicmcs  against  the  advice  of  luv.  v^ouncil  of  the  Indies,  by  [.awn- 
ing in  the  treaty  of  Saragossa  to  the  King  of  Portugal  who  had 
just  nuirricd  liis  sister,  the  Moluccas  for  850,000  ducats.  So  the 
"ti-ade  of  the  Moluccas  passing  for  n  time  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
Sjtaniards,  there  was  no  immediate  jiressure  for  the  completion 
of  this  great  work.  Tlic,  opportunity  then  lost  of  securing  an 
exclusive  transit  was  never  recovered  by  Spain,  but  it  is  reserved 
to  us  of  to-day  to  make  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec  the  world's 
highway.  ^-  ^ 

May  10,  1869. 


I 


ting  immediate- 
ulieajjcr  to  trim- 
it.  "  Tliort!  arc 
I,  "but Slmlli^^ll 
."  ButuoSpfin- 
jf  tho  Emperor, 
iiiealion  wonlil 

u  ship  Ciinal  or 
md  not  the  Em 
ef'eatcd  all  the 
iidies,  by  [lawn- 
jrtugal  whtj  had 
ducats.  So  the 
tlie  haiidrtof  tiie 
the  compk'tiun 

of  securing  an 
)Ut  it  is  reserved 
epec  the  world's 
H.  a 


L  1ST    ()  r    M  A  PS    AN  I)    ('  H  A  RTS 


PI.ATB   1 

<?HART  OK'  TtiK  WoHi.i)  by  Jv\s  i)K  LA  CoHA,  dated  1500.  tlui  wostorn  third,  ro- 
iliieod  from  M.  .foV»ard'n  uueolorod  fttc-similo.  The  oriKiiial  is  in  tiie  Royal  ii- 
briiry.  Madrid,  on  lenthor,  colored,  size  !>  feet  10,  by  3  feet  2  inches,  described 
ill  iju'  |ircco(liiiK  piiK*-"'*-  Hiiniboldl  iind  U'lewel  differ  as  to  the  coiitinuHtlon  of 
La  (Josh's  const  line  of  Kusterii  .Vsia,  cut  off  a  little  beyond  tlie  OunKCS,  the  former 
supposing  that  La  Cosa  intended  to  be  continued  an  the  Western  coast  of  the 
new  heniHsplioiu,  while  the  latter  thinks  it  wus  intended  to  be  continued  in  the 
const  line  of  lirasil. 

Plate  II 

N"  1  Oc'BAXUS  Oc'Ci  OESTALIH  8KU  Trkb^  Nov^,  reduced  from  the  Ptolemy 
of  ID  lit,  printed  at  jtrasburg  in  folio. 

N"  a  La  Carta  univ^ersale  dklla  terra  ferma  k  Isole  delle  Indie  occi- 
dentali,  cauata  da  duo  cnrte  da  nauicare  fatte  in  Sibilia  da  li  piloti  della  Maiosta 
('esarea.  Venetia,  1634  Reduced  to  one  quarter  the  size  of  the  unique  origi- 
nal in  the  possession  of  Mr  James  Lenox  of  New  York.  The  two  pilots  are({^ 
doubt  Fernando  Cohimhus  and  Diogo  Ribero  whose  original  charts  of  IB'iV  and 
1529,  or  contemporary  copies,  o  preserved  in  the  military  library  at  Weimar, 
the  American  portions  of  which  have  been  extracted  and  published  by  D>-  John 
a.  Kohl  of  firemen. 

No  3  Part  of  the  Universaliob  Oooniti  Orbis  Taiiula  by  John  Ruysch. 
Published  in  the  Ptolemy  of  1  .lOS,  printed  at  Rome,  in  folio.  See  supra  pages 
13  and  32. 

Pl.ate  III 

N"  1  Map  of  the  New  Hemisphere  by  F.  G.  Size  of  the  original,  dedicated 
to  Hakluyt,  and  issued  in  his  edition  of  Peter  Martyr's  Eight  Decades,  Paris, 
l.')87,  8vo.  It  i,-«  very  rare.  Cabot's  discoveries  are  placed  north  of  the  Gulf  of 
.St  Lawrence  and  dated  1496.  Virginia  is  here  laid  down  for  the  first  time,  and 
dated  1584.  Drake's  landing  in  California  is  recorded  under  the  date  of  1580, 
and  the  territory  assigned  to  the  Knglish.  Frobisher's  discoveries  are  dated 
1576,  and  given  to  the  English. 

N"  2  Honter's  Globe  dated  1542,  three  continents  terminating  alike  in  the 
Southern  Ocean.  Paria  takes  the  place  of  Terra  de  Cuba  and  is  separated  from 
Zi|)angu  by  a  narrow  sea.  America  is  confined  to  South  America  which  la 
represented  as  a  large  island. 

N"  3  Orontius  Pike's  double-hearted  Globe  dated  July,   1631,  slightly  re- 
duced from  the  original  Ln  the  PariH  edition  of  the  Noim-i  Orbis  of  1 6H2. 
7 


I 


52 

No*  Part  of  the  above  mentioned  Globe  of  OnosTius  Fine  of  July,  1531, 
reduced  to  Meroator's  Projection.  The  best  authorities  seem  to  have  been  used 
by  Fine  in  compiling  this  map,  but  lio  has  so  misroad  thorn  that  his  production 
is  tlie  culmination  of  nbnurditios  Yet  the  best  «eographors  and  matlieinati- 
cians  of  his  day  agree  with  him.  Schoner's  Opunculum  GeograpMcum,  4°,  1 532, 
though  intended  as  a  description  of  his  own  new  and  improved  globes  made  at 
Nuremberg,  answers  equally  well  for  the  descriptive  text  of  this  map.  The 
names  of  places  used  by  Marco  Polo  in  1  astern  Asia,  and  those  given  by  Cortes 
in  Mexico,  are  mixed  up  and  nil  laid  down  in  one  country  which  is  called 
farthest  India.  For  this  admirable  redi-.ction  to  Meiciitor's  Piojection  the  writer 
ia  indebted  to  his  friend  Mr.  J.  C.  Brevoort,  of  Brooklyn,  who  on  all  occasions 
has  liberally  opened  to  tlie  writer  hi.s  geographical  treasures  to  use  as  freely 
as  if  they  were  his  own. 

Plate  IV 
N"  1  Extract  from  the  very  large  Mapa  Mdndi  of  Sebastian  Oabot  of  lf.44, 
showing  the  Gulf  of  StLawrence,  Newfoundland.  Labrador,  Nova  Scctia.  &c. 
From  M.  Jumard's  facsimile  of  the  original  in  the  Imperial  Library  of  Paris, 
the  only  copy  at  present  known  to  exist,  reproduced  by  photo-lithography,  and 
and  consequently  a  correct  copy.  The  reader  is  invited  to  compare  this  extract 
with  a  similar  one  lately  published  by  Mr  J.  F.  Nicuols,  City  Librarian  of  Bris- 
tol in  his  well  printed  Life  and  Discoveries  of  Sebastian  Cabot.  Out  of  abont 
66  names  Mr  Nichols'  engraver  has  managed  to  misspell  above  40  of  them,  some 
of  them  becoming  hopelessly  disguised,  as  f,  i  'Capo  de  arause'  which  means 
nothing,  instead  of  capo  de  aredfe  which  does  have  a  meaning.  It  is  s\",<pected 
that  Mr  Nichols'  copyists  and  printer  have  fallen  into  similar  errors  with  re- 
gard to  the  text  of  hia  book,  and  that  conseqiiently  Sebastian  Cabot  is  elevated 
into  a  position  at  the  expense  of  his  fathers  and  historictd  truth,  which  cannot  be 
sustained,  without  some  sort  of  trustworthy  evidence. 
N»  2  Western  portion  of  the  Typus  U.mvkrsalis  Tekre  in  Reisch's  Maroa- 
KITA  Philosophica  of  1515,  evidently  copied  from  the  Ptolomy  of  151,3  with 
the  Ganges  left  out,  and  Zoana  Mela  put  in.  At  this  period,  and  for  some  time 
after,  it  was  the  general  opinion  of  the  German  Geographers,  that  whatever 
parts  of  the  world  wore  not  included  in  Europe  or  Africa  somehow  pertiiinod 
to  Asia.  The  terms  Novm  Orhis  and  Mundus  Novus  were  very  early  applied  to 
the  new  discoveries.  As  early  as  August,  1495,  Peter  Martyr  wrote  (/.;  orhe  nom 
of  Cuba  believing  it  on  the  authority  of  a  letter  from  Columbus  himself  to  be  a 
part  of  Asia,  just  as  more  than  a  thousand  years  before  the  Romans  called 
England  the  now  world  because  it  was  then  as  another  world  to  them  beyond 
Cadiz.    Ovid  to  Livia  honors  Germany  \nih.  the  title  of  New  World. 

Et  penltuB  toto  div  f  sos  orbe  Brltsnnls.—  Virgil. 

Servea  Itiirum  Caewrem  in  ultimas 

Orbts  Brit»nn>i».— JSforoce. 

The  fact  therefore  that  Giocondi,  in  translating  Vespucci's  account  of  his  third 
voyage,  called  the  newly  described  country,  Mundua  Noms  does  not  prove  that 
by  hira  in  1504,  Brasd  was  thought  to  be  a  now  continent  independent  of  Asia. 

N"  3  The  New  Hemisphere,  reduced  from  Ramusio  of  1566,  almost  the  whole 
of  it  laid  down  from  good  authorities  except  the  Atlantic  coast  line  of  North 
America,  the  Asiatic  features  of  which  are  rot  eradicated.    Terra  del  Fuego 


S  U 


6 


M 


58 


Fine  of  July,  1531, 
jem  to  have  been  used 
im  that  his  production 
pliers  and  inatlieuiati- 
eoyraphicum,  4°,  1532, 
proved  plobes  made  at 
xt  of  this  map.  The 
d  those  given  by  Cortes 
)untry  which  is  called 
s  PiMJection  the  writer 
1,  who  on  all  occasions 
3ures  to  use  as  freely 


STiAN  Cabot  of  lf.44, 
idor.  Nova  Scctia.  Ac. 
lerial  Library  of  Parin, 
photo-lithography,  and 
0  coinpnre  this  extract 
City  Librarian  of  Bris- 
Cabot.  Out  of  about 
ibove  40  of  thoin,  some 
'e  arouse'  which  means 
aning.  It  is  si'.'pected 
similar  errors  with  ro- 
istian  Cabot  is  elevated 
truth,  which  cannot  be 

B  in  Reisch's  Maroa- 
Ptolomy  of  1513  with 
nod,  and  for  some  time 
aphers,  that  whatever 
2a  somehow  pertiiinod 
:e  very  early  applied  to 
artyr  wrote  dn  orbe  novo 
kimbus  himself,  to  be  a 
)re  the  Romans  called 
:  world  to  them  beyond 
New  World. 
all. 


's  account  of  his  third 
ims  does  not  prove  that 
Qt  independent  of  Asia. 
.566,  almost  the  whole 
tic  coast  line  of  North 
ited.    Terra  del  Puego 


is  ropreaented  as  a  Southern  Continent.  The  latest  Spanish  explorations  in  Cali- 
fornia are  carried  up  to  lat.  40°  N.  and  the  coast  of  Labrador  extends  to  07^=". 

X"  4  Part  of  SEnASTiAN  Mue.vstb's  Map  of  tife  World  from  the  Xonif  Or- 
6w  of  Grynaeus,  Basil,  16:!2.  Muenater  in  this  map,  as  well  a^  in  lii-<  printid 
description  of  it,  was  much  behind  the  times.  The  map  is  of  tiio  school  oi' 
Bernard  Sylvanus  1511,  of  Gregory  Ueisch  1515,  of  Apian  1520,  and  Laurenco 
Fries  of  1522.  There  is  no  trace  of  Peter  Martyr's  map  published  in  1511,  or 
tliat  of  Cortes  printed  in  1524,  nor  had  Magellan  disturbed  his  conservatism. 
The  discoveries  of  the  Cabots  and  the  Cortereals  are  ropre.sonte!  as  an  isl.ind 
and  called  Terra  Cortesia.  The  German  geographers'  fancy  coutinont.  2'tTra  de 
Cuba  extends  due  north  and  south,  nearly  ten  degrees  wide,  from  lat.  10°  to 
48°  N.  with  Columbus'  Gulf  of  Ganges  to  the  west  of  Spaguola.  Aini'iica  is 
still  contined  to  South  Amciica,  of  which  Parias  and  Prisilia  arc  provinecM. 

N"  T;  Peter  Martyr's  Map  of  the  discoveries  of  Columbus,  Vespucci  ..nd  oth- 
ers, made  in  1510,  and  published  in  hia  F^rst  Damde,  April  1 1,  lOllj  reduced 
from  the  very  rare  original  which  belonged  to  the  writer  in  1 S46,  but  is  now 
in  the  possession  of  Mr  John  Carter  Brown  of  Providence.  Tliis  is  by  far  llio 
most  authentic,  accurate  and  important  printed  map  of  the  coasts  from  Cape 
St  Koque  to  llundura.s,  including  Columlus'  Archipelago,  that  has  come  down  li> 
us,  of  all  those  known  printed  prior  to  1634. 

No  G  The  World  enlarged  from  Porcacchi  of  157G.  The  Province  of  .\iiiitn  is 
in  Eastern  Asia,  and  Labrador  occupies  all  New  England  and  beyond  is  Florida. 
The  lakes  are  repre.sented  by  one  large  one,  some  600  miles  lonp.  in  Canada, 
divided  by  a  liver  flowing  southeast  into  the  Atlantic,  in  latitude  41°.  This  will 
do  for  the  Hudson  river.  In  separating  Asia  from  America,  several  of  the 
Asiatic  Provinces  are  set  off  to  California.  The  Southern  Continent  has  grown 
to  an  enormous  extent. 

N»  7  Cortes'  Chart  op  the  Gulp  op  Mexico  sent  to  Charles  V  in  152u, 
and  printed  at  Au^aburg  in  1524.  Size  of  the  original  in  the  possession  of  Mr 
James  Lenox.  This  and  Peter  Martyr's  Map  are  incorporated  bodily  into 
Laurence  Fine's  map  of  1631,  and  laididown  with  Marco  Polo's  as  ]iart  of  Kastern 
Asia. 

Plate  V 

Part  of  a  Poutuoitess  Pobtoiano,  not  dated,  but  circa  1514  (?)  extracted  from 
Kuntzman's  facsimile  of  the  original  at  Munich.  A  very  important  chart,  but 
manifestly  not  'veil  understood  by  the  several  writers  who  have  described  it. 
Among  the  tlag.s,  Spanish,  English  and  Portuguese,  set  up  to  mark  the  nation- 
alities of  the  several  possessions  there  are  two  Mohammedan  ones  showing  incon- 
testably  that  the  compiler  of  the  chart  supposed  these  countries  to  belong  to 
Asia.  One  is  in  Nicaragua  and  the  other  in  Venezuela.  Cuba  is  represented  as 
an  island,  and  thrown  down  to  its  proper  latitude,  while  Honduras  like  Peter 
Martyr's  is  carried  too  high.  Dr.  Kohl  has  misled  many  by  putting  on  his 
reduced  fac-similo  the  name  of  Yucatan,  which  is  not  on  the  original.  There 
are  indications  of  the  discovery  of  the  South  Sea  in  1613,  in  the  short  coast  lino 
south  of  Darien  and  in  the  two  canoes  of  Indians.  But  this  part  of  the  chart 
is  evidently  an  after  thought,  for  there  are  indications  of  names  being  cut  out 
or  nnrtailod  to  make  room  for  the^new  discoveries,  which  circumstance,  together 


54 

with  the  name  Ih-a  Bimini,  instead  of  Florida,  tends  to  show  that  the  original 
map  was  made  before  the  expeditious  of  Balbon  and  Ponce  de  Leon  in  1513. 
Indeed  by  leaving  honestly  open  tiie  undiscovered  coast  between  Bocalaos  west 
of  the  line  of  demarcation,  and  Tera  Bimini,  the  map  clearly  resembles  that  of 
Bernard  Sylvaniis  with  his  Regalm  domus  in  the  Venotia*  Ptolemy  of  1611. 

Plate  VI. 
Tkhitantrpkc  Railway  Company's  Chart  of  the  World  on  Morcator's  Pnjection: 
showing  the  lines  of  railway  with  its  connections  of  steamships  and  sailing  ves- 
sels, with  the  prominent  parts  of  the  world  as  they  are  this  year,  18G9. 

Conclusion. 
All  these  things  disjoined  and  crammed  as  they  are  in  this  little  book,  to  the 
indifferent  reador  will  no  doubt  seem  very  simple,  insomuch  that  some  will  thinly 
that  they  have  Itnown  them  all  along.  But  simple  as  they  are,  if  credited  and 
adopted,  they  will  require  a  careful  revision  of  our  whole  cipurse  of  study  in 
early  American  geography  and  history. 


Te^f,  Laus  Deo. 


i      -:-- 


,'<^ 


•  that  the  original 
le  Leon  in  1513, 
een  Bocalaos  west 
■  resembles  that, of 
(ilemy  of  1611. 

rcator's  Pnjection: 
ps  and  sailing  ve»- 
foar,  18G9. 


ittle  book,  to  the 
it  some  wilt  thinl< 
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eiiurse  of  study  in 


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ORCNTIVS  F.  DELPH. 
ii  "Leiforttiu 
OFfEXIMVS  TIBI  ,  CANOIDE 
|.r<*<Mf ,  i/Minf  r/4«  erW*  Urr4tiimiefcriptionr, 
ivxttrrecntiumCktgr^phonmdeHydrogrtipha 
rum  Wf-Kcm  tfrrvtUtntttkequttorit ,  tumpa/ 
t*Utlorum  nd  fjs  iju*  »x  crmrn  pfBperHortr, 
j-'t  w  !K4  co?-<i«  b«nw"i  fi)  rmnU  in  pUuio  (Otxicn/ 
pm:  i^uMUKit/dM  horttUm,  dextr*  utrotiU 
Pr*Utnyfiiiidif,artrmc»»,fUit,t„r .  Tuipy.-'r 
nunkjwlnvrot  '.''"t'^iticrtxrwhc,:  h-thei'.'qtie 
p-<f.vs  Chr>;-iA  in  VWtfc'o  ,  cuius  fiuorc  OT 


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^^^^ 

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ORONTIVS     F.DBtP 

OFrERIMVS    Tlnl    ,    CAN 

V-tfiof  f  umufrfitm  crbU  terrdrim defer 

iincta  rret  muvi  Qtcgr^phonim  *e  Hydn 

Tim  vcfirn  ,  frrUdUtim Arqudtorit  , 

rtUrloru^  od  r<tt  qua  tx  crmrif  prep 

Timm cordu  buiMni  fo nnnU  in pUno i 

urn :  quJTurA  ?^,m  kortiUm ,  drxtr*  i 

|j    ('yiUvi^Mndifirt(m(am.l:iht\ir .  T 

5    Ksitkf t.uiuv hoi  ■I'C'Alt.f'rrxnfitc  :  h' 

i! 2    guf.-J.-  Ci'ri.'.-w  -.fy  VVf rf.,!o  ^  cuius  fa 

tl 

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Oroulius  l-  iru's  (ilohe.sJjghtJv 


1 

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n.h 


ORONTIVS     F.  DBtPH. 

FfEKIMVS  Tlni  ,  CANOIDB 
fior ,  wiiurrf^m  erbU  Urrdrvmdefcriftioni, 
U  rrecuiuvi  Gt«gr^f>hoTum  *e  Hydrormpha 
N  wci^ien  ,  frrU4t4tutn  Afquttorit  ,  tiimptf 
Ittori'^  id  ;4t  qutt  n  crmrh  ^epertiotir, 
't^tMCordiihwu^niforwiitd  in  fUno  cotxicn/ 
7):  qujrur.1  ttcitu  toretUm,  drxtr*  utrotut 
iUvt  Hflvndi  pjrttm  r»w.l:fiitur  .  Tf  ipjtiir 
in.fi'iluv>i:Bt  li'C'tili-.c'rexnfitc:  bfbeioque 
it:js  ChriSrU  -.ft  V\Vrf.,!o  _  cuius  fMvii  O^ 
)fH/?»  biCf  .'.V'l  ■.iitimun'i4uinu:. 


l-  iru's  (ildbe.siighlly  rt'diircd  l.WI. 


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OROMTIVS     F.  OBI.PH. 

othirimvs  TiBi  ,  o*NDirin 

Vtfiar ,  uniuirftm  #rM<  ttrrdtymitfitiftianr, 

rum  mtiUtm  ,frnidl4ti,nAf<)U4torit  ,  luwifn/ 

rtUrlorum  *d  e4i  tju*  fg  trmtn  prep^rtionf, 

miM coriu  hvf^t  fj  m»U  in  fUHO torncn/ 

in:  ^ujruul^n  tjruUm,  <ifxtr4  utr»4itt 

fhiUvi Wundl pjritm r4nipl:ihiur  .   Ti« i?.i'"r 

gr'fiJt  Chri/.-M  :n  VVftf  f !<, ,  (uiut  fduoK  cr 
imptH^ibttf  ii^'t  ■.timmi,n'i4uiruii, 
V.'V        .  ,  , , . 


Or«>iil.»us  I'  irn'V;  (ilohrsilgtillv  rt'fliitc 


/^o         jLcv  z'o  sxo         m3»  xw         *n  Jt^ 

l*aj1  of  Oronlius  Fine's  tllobc  of  1531, reduced  tl 


ORCNTIVS     r.  DBLPH 

^U  Vtifortm. 

orrRKiMvs   Tini  ,   cand 

Vtfier ,  miiwrfdm  »rW«  ttrr4rymiUfcrifi 
iwcl*  TtttnttvmQitp'tfihcnm  d<  Hyiroi 
Tim  mt'UtK,  ,(rru*UtLin kfifittorii  ,  tu 
rtUttoruyn  *i  r*i  i\*itt  tx  (rnirtt  prepor 

r.  m  'M  fariu  t'uMMni  fo  ■  ntU  ui  fUtio  coi 

WKikfju/Hrf-o*  ''i't'iUifreMiritc:  hiln 
V''--       II,.. 


OroiiLiiis  !•  int'K  «ilnl)»!,siighlJy  r 


/MO  /St  /to  /70 


/9e 


yv{/m  ntttj  »^~'w 


/fo  A4?v  2>o  sxe         as»    '      iuo         sn  J*» 

Paj-t  of  Oronlius  Fine's  Cilobe  of  1531, reduce 


ORCNTIVS     r.  DBLPH. 

Jii  Vtifortm. 
KKIMVS    Tinl    ,    OANDinn 

tr ,  i(M(u»r/4»  »thU  ttrr^rtimdrfcriflianf, 

•f.'.fti  ,frrtidUli,ntr>fU4toru  ,  i'umf4f 
on"»  <4  f«  i\m  tx  (fKiftt  preportiortf, 
r,A  toriu  t'uMMiii  fii  mt/4  m  fUtio  <ottKn/ 
.jii-irumtt'i*  torttlim,  irxlr*  utr«*Ht 
m  Vuxilt pjrttm limfitUhmr  .  Ti/ 1^""' 
fiutumf-ot  ''tcr4U.cre\iiF'lc:  Mfi^T^f 
J.  Chrii.id-n  VVf.-t.f (<,  ^  cu.'ut /4«i)i<  Cr 

ViV       ,  ,  , , . 


irir's  «Hol)«!,silghJlv  rt'diwr*!  I.V'il. 


Ny4 


i^(»         j<»  ■U0  xye  Jto  ifo  jio  j/o 

>bp  of  I53J,rechiced  to  Mcrt-alor's  JPr^jertion . 


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